Freebie Wednesday April 29th

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I am a bit under the weather...I have been having some back issues and I am on some really strong meds for the pain...so I will keep this all sort and sweet :)

Today, I have some labels for you! I wanted to create a sample card to share but until I am back to 100 percent I am taking a few days off from the craft room. I might post a sample later this week, if I feel up to it :) Just as a design tip, when you import these into SCAL you can use the shadow feature and adjust the shadow to make a nice double layer to these labels.

Anyway, as I mentioned, this week the cut files are for SCAL users (sorry design studio folks...I hope to have something for you next week).

Here's a preview of what you can download: (Click here to download)

I hope you enjoy this cut! Remember if you download, take a moment and leave me a comment and tell me what you think! I appreciate your kind feedback :)

Also, if you haven't had a chance to enter my "blog candy giveaway" and do the BBTB blog hop this week ....click here for all the details.

Have a great week everyone!

BBTB Challenge and get you some blog Candy!

This week over at BBTB we were challenged by Regina to use the boarder feature on the Doodle Charms Cartridge. We were able to pick any of the cuts from this cartridge as long as we used the boarder feature. Sounds easy right?

Well, if it's been a while since you looked through your Doodlecharms cartridge booklet...let me tell you...there are some awesome cuts! So picking just 1 can be hard!

When I saw how cute the little apple cut was I fell in love and knew I had to make something with it! Since teacher appreciation week is coming up next week, and my last card was picked up by trends magazine...leaving me in need of another card ... I decided that I would make little card for our wonderful teachers.

Scrappin' Sports and More has some of the BEST papers and embellishments for school projects. Therefore I decided to use all SS&M papers on this little card. If you haven't checked out all of the awesome papers and embellishments that SS&M offers make sure to stop by the company website to check it out.

So here's my little project:

Also, this week there is a lot of blog candy up for GRABS! Here is what I am offering this week.



1. Basic Grey mini album: This is a 6x6 album that is bound by 3 rings and has 6 inner pages and a cover and back.
2. A "Tag" stack "Alpine Forest" by SEI: This little book is full of little tags and little papers that have glitter on them. This is BEAUTIFUL! and would be super to use on cards or small projects.
3. Buttons: What would a giveaway be without some buttons...so there are some buttons thrown in for good measure.

If you would like to enter...simply leave me a comment here on my blog (Under this blog entry) make sure to include your email address so I can get in touch with you if you are the winner.

The winner will be chosen by random using Random.org and will be announced on my blog this coming Saturday (May 2nd)

The fun doesn't stop here...there are several BBTB design team members that are giving away goodies this week...so from here you will want to "Hop" over to Sharon's Blog (click here)to check out her giveaway and enter for your chance to win!

Good luck to all that enter! have a super week and remember to check back on my blog on Wednesday for my Wednesday "freebie".

Freebie Wednesday April 22nd

Happy Hump Day everyone! Last weeks "freebie" wednesday was so much fun! I received so many nice comments and emails. The freebie last week was downloaded just over 200times! So I hope that you all enjoyed the cut last week.

This week I wanted to share a design using design studio...but after creating this cut file, I decided to create one for all of you that use SCAL as well. So there is something for everyone today :)

Ok so have you all seen the newest fiskars punch? It cuts a scalloped shape that is almost like an oval with a oval hole in the middle. This punch is oh so impossible to get your hands on (just like the threading water punch was) so I decided to create a card that has this "punched" edge on it.

First here's the card I created using this cut file, so you can see visually what I am trying to explain ;):



As you can see, the edge appears like I have used a boarder punch on it...but the cricut will cut it all out for you...perfect alignment everytime...awh don't you just love your bug!

So here's the freebie for this cut: (here to download)



This cut file is designed using only the plantin schoolbook cartridge. I decided to do this because you will find a lot of cut files using George so I wanted to do a cut file using the basic cartridge that comes with your expression machine.

Just as a note, I used the inside of the letter "D" for the inside of the scallops. When you open this cut file in design studio you will have to click on each of the "d's" and with your mouse right click and then hide the outside edge of each "d". I know this is a pain, but we have to work around some things when using design studio. If you do not know how to do this, shoot me a email or refer to the cricut message board.

Now on to the SCAL cut files (click here to download)



Ok, so for those of you that have SCAL here are 2 scallop cards that I created in photoshop cs3 and then converted to cut files. Since my file was so large last week (and some of you had trouble opening it on your computer), this week I did not save these files in a large format.

So you will have to import them into SCAL and then size it using your shape properties (very simple to do). The size this is created for is 8.5 wide and 5.5 high. This will cut you a standard card.

Happy Creating everyone...and remember if you download these files, leave me a comment!

BBTB Challenge and Peggy Loves Vintage

I for once (in a long time)am thankful that today is Monday! This weekend we had snow and rain here in Colorado...we received rain in my neck of the woods, and boy did it rain. The rain started on Thursday and did not stop until early Sunday morning. Needless to say it turned out to be a long weekend for the kids as they are use to being on the ball fields and outside during the weekend.

We also had a leak in our basement because of the amount of moisture we received so I am dealing with the restoration folks from our insurance agency...it just might end up being a long week as we pull back carpets, set up fans and get new padding...sounds fun right? Power of positive thinking...power of positive thinking....

So this week over at BBTB we were challenged by Regina to use the inch bag from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge and combine that with our sponsor this week, which is Peggy Loves Vintage. We each received 4 vintage images and we were able to use any of the 4 to use on our bag.

Here's my take on this weeks challenge:



As you can see these little images can be just simply printed and then placed onto your project. You can dress them up, or just use them as is...I pretty much decided to leave mine as it (since it was so sweet) and just accent it with a scallop backing and some stickles around the side. I also added a pearl handle to the bag to give it that extra girly touch.

So if you love vintage pretties, then you will for sure want to check these out!

Have a great week everyone, and don't forget to check back on Wednesday for my "Wednesday Freebie"

Freebie Wednesday April 15th *UPDATED CUT FILE 4/26*

Since today is tax day I figured that we could all use a freebie! As mentioned earlier in the week, I am going to be giving out cut files using both SCAL and Design studio. I will be starting out slow and doing this 1 time a week, but I hope to be able to do 2 a week soon.

Today's freebie cut file is a artesian shape using SCAL software. I really like working with these files as I can create them in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and then convert them to cutting files using inkscape.

Here's the view of what you can download:



I have this set at just shy of a 12x12 so it will cut a full sheet of cardstock for layouts. However, you can easily resize this in SCAL to fit a card.

Click here to download this CUT file

If you like this cut, and would like to see more, leave me a comment.

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Monday-BBTB Challenge and Lots to share!

Well the reality of Monday has hit our house hard today. The kids are back to school and it was rather difficult getting them there today on time. I think they really enjoyed having a week off and I am even more sure that they would have liked to have another week off! It's crazy to think that summer break will be here before we know it.

Well if you have been following my blog for a while you can see that I have made a lot of changes to it over the past week. There are still a few more things that I will be tweaking here and there but I am really excited to have a more organized and user friendly blog. I have been wanting to share some of my cricut and SCAL cuts but I wanted to make sure that they would be easy to access or reference so you can see that there is a tab for each section at the top of my blog...now locating cutting files, videos (which will be coming) and tutorials will be a breeze! I am really excited to be able to share in an organized fashion. Starting this week, I will be loading cut files...watch my postings as I will put all here in my postings and then reference them under the tabbed sections.

Also, since its Monday today I have a little BBTB project to share! This week we were asked to use the 24/7 cut from the graphically speaking cartridge. I decided to turn mine into a mesh...and here's what I came up with.





Have a great week everyone and don't forget to check back if you are interested in downloading some fun cuts :)

Happy Easter and 2 *Toots*

I wanted to wish everyone a VERY Happy Easter! I hope that you all get to enjoy some quality time with your precious families today!

We were up pretty early this morning...isn't it so fun having young children in the house that are just so excited for everything! Gavin was really cute this morning talking about how he thought he heard someone eating carrots downstairs...LOL. I love him at this age...so into everything and he's just so darn excited about everything!

Yesterday we took some time to dye some Eggs...the kids really enjoy and look forward to doing this every year. We also went over to the City Egg hunt...it was crazy! Not sure we will do that again...the eggs were gone in less than 2 minutes...honestly I have never seen anything like it! LOL

I also have some fun news to TOOT about. I received an email on Friday from Scrapbook Trends requesting 2 of my projects...a layout and a card for their upcoming Sept. 2009 issue. I am just thrilled!

Well I hear the oven beeping so I better get back to the family.

*Under Construction*

Please ignore the mess! My blog is receiving a "face lift". Keep checking back because not only will my blog be getting a fun new look but I will also be adding lots of new fun things such as cricut patterns, videos/tutorials, SCAL patterns, and much much more :)

Toot *Update* and Scrappin' Sports & More Project

Happy Thursday everyone! What do you have planned for today? As I am typing I have lots of giggling going on in the background...what are we up to today you ask? Oh nothing but a fun little silly string war...pictures to come soon. Not sure what we are going to do today, perhaps rent the movie Bedtime Stories and eat some popcorn on the couch. Awh...Spring break freedom...;)

So yesterday I received a fun little package on my door from scrapbook trends. A while back I shared that my little pear card would be in the upcoming April/May issue of simply handmade. This is my first publication in this book, and I have to say...wow there are some really cool ideas in this book. Everything from going green to the most clever cards ;)

Here's a picture of my little contribution to this book:

This month I have been sharing a few little projects at a time using some of the awesome papers and embellishments from Scrappin' Sports and More. Today, I have a little kids birthday invitation idea to share. This little invitation was made using the racing line from Scrappin' Sports and More. I hand drew a little flag shape and cut it down for each layer so it appears as thou the flag is waving. I then attached a dowel to the back for a fun presentation that will delight any child.

So is anyone heading out with the kids tomorrow to see the new Hannah Montana movie? I think we might make a day of it at the theater tomorrow...so I will share our "review" of the movie this weekend :)

Have a super day everyone!

TEA-rrific Spring Day

So let me explain...the kids are out of school this week for Spring Break...AKA Mommy go insane week...was that too honest? I was laughing with Jackson the other day when they got out for Spring Break. He ran to the car VERY excited and I said, as I opened his door, "Jacks you look happy"...he said "of course mom it's spring break"...and then turned to me with the wit and humor of a child much older then he is and said...I was just going to say "you look sad mom"..."could it be because it's spring break"...LOL.

I had to run home and call my mom and laugh with her about what Jackson said and then we got to talking about the circle of life and how things just don't seem the same when you become an adult...esp. a mom. Awh the circle of life...

So Saturday we started off our spring break with snow...snow and um more snow...ugh! What's up with spring? I honestly think we have had more snow this past couple of weeks then what we received all winter. Crazy!

So after accepting that the kids and I would be spending a lot of time together...something I do love to do when I am organized...I decided to get organized and make this a fun week...which we are calling (thanks to the show "In the motherhood") our "stay-cation...a vacation where we are staying around here...no big plans...just fun family time.

So we "met" as a family last night and discussed somethings that we would like to do together...some of the suggestions were very practical and some well let's face it...were very dream like (awh to be young again).

One of the things that Ashlee wanted to do this week was have a "tea party"...of course this "tea party" had a very long guest list...so I had to remind her that we are doing things with our brothers this week. After much convincing...they caved and enjoyed a tea party with Ashlee today...LOL (have to admit...it was cute).

They did have one stipulation...they were not going to dress in anything Ashlee picked out. They went into their room, shut the door, and picked out some "boy dress up clothes"...aka old Halloween costumes.

Here's some pictures from our Tea party:

Ashlee totally in her element....


Jackson being a VERY good sport....


Gavin having a ball...


So as our "tea party" progressed it dawned on Jackson that I might be sharing these pictures...it was at this point that he decided perhaps a tea party with pictures wasn't the best idea...LOL

Here's the boys trying to conceal the evidence that they were actually at a tea party...LOL




Well speaking of keeping the kids busy...I better get back to them.