Just Bought Sure Cuts A Lot Version 2!

So I'm really excited because I just bought Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL). I went to a scrapbook convention where this really nice man named Joe was selling the program. I'm glad I bought it when I did too because I just got an email from him today saying that after today it will no longer be for sale! Provocraft reached a confidential settlement with the company that makes SCAL so they will no longer be selling the version that works with Cricut. But the downfall is that my Cricut has firmware of 2.0 and SCAL only works with version 2.1 or 2.2 or something like that. So I've been trying to update my firmware for literally the last HOUR!! And it keeps failing for some reason. It says in the program that it may require two passes of the updates for it to take effect. The first time my laptop died in the middle of updating so I had to start over. The second time I accidentally closed out before the second update could take place. The third time I ran though both the first and second updates and when the second update was finished it said the update had failed. GRRRR! I'm about to throw my computer and the Cricut both out the window! So now I'm currently in the first update again. Hopefully this one works because it's almost midnight and I have to work in the morning. If you don't hear from me for awhile, it's because I went Office Space on my electronics lol.

I SAID YES!!!

Hey Everyone,

     I'm very excited to announce that I'M ENGAGED!!! My boyfriend, Mike of 4 years proposed on Saturday April 30th. I was totally surprised  and had no idea. We started dating when I was still in college at Michigan State University. He was my first serious boyfriend and ever since we started dating I begged him to help me fulfill this quest I've had. Here's the story. Supposedly, you're not a true MSU Spartan until someone kisses you under the Beaumont Clock Tower at Midnight. Now, he's a Michigan fan (our rival) so he always blew me off and was like, "No way am I helping anyone become a Spartan." 

     Well, fast forward four years and this weekend we had planned to go up to Michigan State. He got me up there with the rouse that his cousin Anthony and his wife Sarah (who both graduated from MSU) would be up there for a reunion Formal for her sorority and that they could invite another couple to come. So, I was all in. I got to go buy a new sexy dress, get all dressed up and was thinking we would get up there during the day and have a nice dinner with Sarah's friends and basically have a nice date night at my Alma mater. Well as we get up there he said, "Let me text Anthony and find out where they're at." He said Anthony told him they were running about 20 minutes behind so we would have some time to kill. Well, he's like let's just go to the Clock Tower and kiss because I know you've been wanting to do that forever.

     Now, if you remember, I said earlier that the legend says you have to kiss at MIDNIGHT. So, I saw no reason to go to the clock tower and kiss since it was somewhere around 2pm in the afternoon. I really gave him a hard time. I kept saying how we shouldn't even go because it wouldn't even count because it's not midnight. So, we get out of the car after finding a parking space at the library and walk through the trees along the path to the tower. As I'm walking the wind is whipping like crazy and my pretty curled hair is blowing all over the place and now I'm getting worried that I'm going to have to go to this formal looking like I was in a tornado. And I'm still thinking, "What in the world are we bothering for, it's not midnight." lol. 

     So we get to the clock tower and kind of look around for a minute like, should we just kiss? We look over and there's a photographer taking pictures of the tower. He sees us standing there and says, "Hey I'm taking some pictures for my portfolio and you're a cute couple. Would you mind letting me take some pictures of you for my book and getting the tower in the background?" I said I didn't care and Mike didn't either so he starts taking pictures of us. He's telling us to look at each other, smile, kiss, hug, hold hands etc. Then he grabs my arm and has me sit on a bench off to the side of the tower. He grabs Mike's hands and says ok you kneel down and hold her hands. He backs up and says, "Oh, I need to change my lens really quick." So he goes to change his camera lens and we're left at the bench with him kneeling in front of me. Mike makes some wise crack to the photographer about he's a Michigan fan and the photographer says, "GO STATE" and gives Mike a thumbs up. I'm still thinking nothing of it. Mike talks about sports everywhere we go, especially Michigan and making fun of Spartans is nothing unusual for him.

     Little did I know that "Go State" was the photographers cue to my boyfriend that he had set up a video camera and at that point had started recording everything. Mike starts talking to me while the photographer is fiddling with his equipment. He's making wise cracks about how he reminds him of "Papa Smurf." So, we're just laughing and giggling at this "weirdo photographer." He continues talking and says, "You know how much I love you right?" I say, "Yes :) " Thinking he's just saying that because we're all dressed up and looking at each other. He continues saying, "You know I told you I wanted to be the good guy for you, right?" (because I told him all my previous experiences with men were that they were assholes). "I said yes?" Now, I'm wondering what he's getting at and why he's bringing this up. He continues to say some other really sweet things and then he starts fishing around in his outside suit pocket. Now I'm starting to feel like I'm in shock. I say, "Whaaaaaaaat---are you dooooing? with a nervous smile. He he pulls out a navy blue Hearts on Fire ring box, opens it up and there's a VERY sparkly square princess cut diamond with a halo and diamonds around the band and he says, "Will you marry me?"

     I was still in shock, we've been talking about marriage alot lately and how he didn't plan on proposing for another year so I had gotten used to the idea that we had some time before doing all of this. But I immediately grabbed the ring out of the box and put it on my finger (before saying yes HAHA). Then I said, "YESSS!!!" Now, by this point I'm crying like a baby. And I don't have a pretty cry. The only cry I'm capable of involves puffy, red, raccoon eyes. Plus I had tons of liquid eyeliner and mascara on because we were going to a "formal" so black makeup was dripping down my face. During the whole thing I was wearing my giant Dior sunglasses though so thankfully you couldn't see any of that. After I said yes Mike sat on the bench next to me. I lifted up my glasses and looked at him and said, "I can't take these off now can I? lol He's taking pictures and I probably look like hell!" Him and the photographer wiped the makeup off my face for me and we stuck around and continued to take more pictures. We were laughing and joking the whole time and talking about how I didn't expect it at all and that I was in shock. 

       Mike was certain I wouldn't want to keep the ring he bought me because for the last couple months whenever we go into a jewelry store I have to try on wedding rings and right before he proposed I tried on a ring just like mine and said, oh the band is too skinny and I think I want this or that. But now that he gave it to me it's perfect and I love it. It's at the jewelers getting sized today.

     I found out later that Mike's had this planned for months. He bought the ring in February with his dad. He took my dad out to dinner to ask him if he had his approval to marry me (HOW SWEET!!). He called my best friend Ashley and asked for her permission because she really is family to me. She's living in Arizona right now and he even tried to fly her here for the engagement but she couldn't make it because she's in finals week of school. He told my family his plans to propose on Easter so everyone knew for months and they kept the secret really well because I had absolutely no idea. He really had me convinced he was not ready to propose for a year.

   So right after we were done taking pictures I was still thinking we were going to a formal with Sarah and Anthony. I thought he just did it on the spur of the moment and that we really did have those plans with them. He told me that was all a lie and that we really weren't staying the night in Lansing and they weren't there. So after our near 2 hour drive up there we turned around and drove right back home. On our way we passed the office we work at where I had arranged to have the office painted and carpeted that weekend. I saw the contractors there and wanted to stop in to see how it looked. Which played right into Mike's OTHER plans because his father was running late so that killed 15 minutes. After we left the office he told me he had to stop over at his brother's house to pick something up and that I could go in and show his sister in law my ring. So I said ok thinking we were meeting up with friends later that night. We as we're driving up to his house Mike starts whistling like and idiot and looking around and smiling so I'm like, "ugh oh, now what?!" I look towards his brother's house and see their driveway filled with cars and as we get closer I see my parents car and I said, "you invited my family?!" So then I got emotional again and started crying in the driveway LOL. So I was like I can't walk in there like THIS! So I sat in the car for a few minutes trying to get myself together before walking in the house. We entered and there was a full blown after party going on with our immediate families. I got a photo album from his mom and one from his grandma as soon as I walked in the door. Lots of hugs and everyone asking to see my ring. It was very sweet and overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.

     So now all the family is asking me if I've set a date (I've been engaged for 2 hours) so NO, lol not yet. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that I'm engaged let alone picked a date! His mom and my mom are both blowing up my phone every day asking me about wedding plans and my mom's talking about having a custom dress made. They're cute. They've been sitting on this for months without being able to talk about it so I can understand they're bursting at the seems by now. But I'm very excited and for those of you that have made it to the end of this thanks for reading and sharing this special moment with me :) I'll be sure to share some pictures the photographer took and probably the video on my YouTube as well.

I WON THE DCWV TEMPLATE CHALLENGE!!!!

I'm sooooooo excited to announce that I won my first challenge!!! This is the second challenge I've tried for as I'm relatively new to the online scrapping community and I've been non-stop talking about this challenge since Erin posted it on her blog. So, everyday (probably a few TIMES a day lol) I've been stalking her blog to see if she posted the winner and everyday my co-workers would ask, "DIDJA WIN?" So, this morning I'm very happy to report that I was chosen as the winner!!! I'm going to receive a stack of the Tradewinds paper as my prize. If you want to check out her page to see the top contestants that were in the running please go to Erin's Blog for DCWV. I did the layout as part of my Florida vacation album so I'll be posting the close ups as well as the other layouts for the trip soon.

Cricut Expression 2 Giveaway

Joy & Melanie over at Everyday Cricut are giving away a Cricut Expression 2 during a live USTREAM tonight at 8:05PM CST, along with a ton of other great prizes.

So be sure to head over there tonight. Also be sure to check out HSN tonight at midnight for their launch of the Expession 2. Good luck to those that enter!

Scrapbook Haul Video #6

Hey Everyone,

I have a new scrapbook haul video up on YouTube. Here it is :)

My Parents' Birthdays 2009 Layout

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I'm beginning to wonder if I remember what to do! I was traveling all through March. I went to Jamaica with my boyfriend and then Florida  with my boyfriend's family as a group trip. We rented a house in Seacrest Beach and it was GORGEOUS there. I'll probably talk more about it when I post some pages after I get a chance to scrap them. So it was a hectic time going back and forth and packing and unpacking. However, I wouldn't change any of it. It definitely made the winter go by faster spending time in beautiful locations. I actually made this layout before I went on my trips but never got around to posting about them. My mom and dad's birthdays are really close to each other and I didn't have more than a few pictures for each so I figured I would make one page for my dad and one for my mom. I really love how this layout turned out. The patterned paper is DCWV and most of it was actually scraps that I was using up. I did some doodling and faux stitching with a white Gelly Roll pen. The orange ribbon was from the $1 clearance section at JoAnns. I'm kicking myself because I should have bought more than one roll. All of the cuts are from the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge. I LOOOOVE that cartridge! The buttons were just from my stash :) Enjoy

Office job available!

If anyone is looking for a part time or possibly full time office job in Grand Blanc, Michigan let me know! A friend of mine is hiring there.

News

Hi Everyone,
     Sorry I haven't posted anything recently. I just got back from a trip to Jamaica with my boyfriend. It's sooooo beautiful there. The weather was perfect. It was always sunny and it has a breeze so it's not stifling. The sea was the perfect temperature; cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that it didn't take long to get used to it. Anyways, I only have a week in town before a leave again for a family vacation (my boyfriends family) where we'll be staying in Destin, Florida for a week. He has a  huge family (15 with just immediate family and 2 on the way) so we're just renting a huge house on the water. I'm not happy to report that I just checked the weather though and it's not supposed to get above mid 70s all week and is going to be dropping down to high 40s at night. Not my idea of vacation weather but I can't complain too much because I just went to a tropical paradise.
    I will say though, that for those of you who have never been to Jamaica, the service was TERRIBLE. It was the nicest most beautiful location with the worst staff I've ever seen. Not just our hotel, the entire island. And just to prove we weren't nuts we asked everyone in the airports and on our snorkeling trip what their experience was and they were all staying in different cities at various hotels and they all agreed it was the worst service. We were told Jamaican's are on "island time." Meaning they do things when it's convenient for them, not their customers. So, just an FYI if you're thinking about places to travel to. I'm going to be doing a review of the trip for my travel agent because we had so many issues so maybe I'll post a link of it if anyone is interested in reading it.
   Next up for news. I BROKE MY FREAKING TOE!!!! I'm lucky to say that I've made it to 25 years old having never broken or sprained anything in my entire life. But today my boyfriend went grocery shopping and stocked the freezer like an A&^hole (pardon my language). So I open it up as I'm about to start dinner for us and a one pound ball of frozen pizza dough flies out of the freezer and lands right on my toe. OH MY GOSH, I've never felt anything like that in my whole life. Well maybe the time I got hit in the nose with a stuffed animal that happened to have a hard plastic nose (and that hurt like hell too). But anyways I immediately dropped to the floor and was in shock. I swear I was like shaking and didn't know what to do with myself because it hurt so bad. My foot immediately swelled to twice it's normal size and the whole foot turned dark red. It's now 1:22am and this happened around 7pm or so and I've been elevating it hoping maybe the pain would go away just like it does when you stub your toe really bad. But it's been THROBBING ever since. It feels numb but it throbs it's very strange. I can't walk on it at all, which is very difficult considering I have a puppy that needs to be let out every 2 minutes to go to the bathroom. I hobbled to the kitchen after a few hours of elevating it and taking ibuprofen which hasn't helped at all and cut up an old box for a deck of cards that had no cards in it and fashioned a split to tape it to my other toe for support. When I have to walk it strains my toe and makes it hurt more because I'm flexing it up trying not to put weight on my toes so I'm hoping it will help a little. When I went to look at my foot to figure out how in the world I would get the tape around it I noticed the bottom of my foot is completely bruised; a very attractive shade of purple. FML lol, surely this will be lovely to deal with schleping bags through the airport.

Blog Candy Giveaway

Hi Everyone! Cindy over at the Scrapping Room is having an awesome giveaway at her blog. She is giving away 3 prizes to 3 different people which I LOVE because that means there's more chances to win something great!

First Prize: The Your Story Bundle-- which includes......

12" YourStory book binder/laminator machine
12-9x11.5 LaminationgPouch
12-4.5 x 65 Laminating Pouch
1-Paper Trimmer
1-8.5 x 11 black binder
1-8x8 White binder w/window
1- 4x6 black binder linen
1-8.5x11 Binder Brown
1-12x12 black binder
1- user manual

Second Prize is the Christmas Village Cricut Cart



Third Prize is the Precision Scissor Pack

What in the world is RAK?!

LOL, ok. So, I've been scrapbooking for years and recently started cardmaking. However, I've been a solitary scrapper. I don't have any creative friends or family. I don't know anyone who scrapbooks. I never go to crops or classes and until about 2 months ago I never really got into checking out things online related to scrapbooking. Well, through having this blog and looking through some youtube videos all of these scrapbookers keep throwing the term "RAK" around and no one ever mentions what it stands for. It was starting to irritate me quite honestly so I had to Google it. Before doing so it was obvious it meant something about getting nice goodies in the mail from fellow scrappers but I had to know the literal translation for my own sanity. Apparently it means "Random Acts of Kindness." And I guess it's a term that alot of people use outside of the scrapping world such as churches, schools, clubs and I even heard it was a show on Oprah or something too. Interesting. So I just had to tell everyone in case it was driving you crazy like me and needed answers. Night everyone :)

Love Struck Blog Candy Layout

Hi Everyone,

     My last post was about how I won the Love Struck Cricut cartridge from Melissa at Disney Dreamer Designs. I was in the middle of this layout when I received the cartridge in the mail and decided to try it out with the rose cut on there. The paper is from DCWV's Immortal Love stack which I love for the most part but some of the words are a little TOO vampire themed so it's hard to think of ways to use them. The paper is gorgeous though aside from that. I don't know what I'm going to use the pages for specifically yet so I left the title bar at the top blank. I'm thinking maybe an anniversary page or just pictures of me and my honey that were taken just hangin' out and not for a specific occasion.

     On the left page I cut out photo mats from immortal love and regular textured red cardstock. The red paper was a little too bright so I ran black ink over it. The paper is textured so it has a dirty linen look when you put ink over it. I used my scissors to distress the edges of both the red and printed paper layers. I've never really been one to use distressing so I didn't have any "tools" specifically for that on hand. But I was happy to see that just rubbing my scissor blade along the edge created the same look. I then added some black ribbon for embellishment. The corners of that page have some chipboard photo corners that look like splattered/dripping blood that were part of the chipboard collection for immortal love. The "love" is also chipboard with the same blood background as the photo corners. I used my Crop-a-dile Big Bite to punch some holes through the "love" chipboard and added some silver brads. *Gosh I love brads* lol. The paper is kind of the show stopper on that page so I didn't want to over embellish.

 The right page has background paper from Immortal Love. I used textured red and teal cardstock for the title bar at the top and distressed both layers with my scissors. I ran black ink over both layers because again, the paper was too bright for me and I wanted a tattered dirty look. I used my big bite again to punch holes along the top of the title bar and sewed black string through them. This was my first time using that string and I'm really happy with the look on this layout. The photo mats are from gray textured cardstock that I inked in black and distressed with scissors. I wrapped the string around them and added some silver brads on the sides. The word "friend" is from the Immortal Love chipboard collection. I punched holes in that and added silver brads also. As I said above the rose cut is from my blog candy win of the Love Struck cartridge. I inked it in black and outlined the layers in black sharpie to make it stand out more. I wrapped some black string around the stem as well.

I love this layout. I like that it's not so "cutesy" as alot of layouts can come out. Totally different look. You'll have to suggest some fonts that might look good for the title of this page. I only have a few font cartridges so if there's any you recommend let me know!

Blog Candy Winner!

So I'm really excited to say that I won my first blog candy prize ever! Not only that but I never win anything so I was quite surprised since I won right before my birthday which is coming up on Monday. Melissa over at Disney Dreamer Designs was giving away the 2010 Love Struck Cricut cartridge and I got it! 

I have to thank her EXTRA because she really went out of her way to contact me as I didn't see her announcement right away. She is also a fellow Michigander *I can't believe I just used that term as I hate it* and I received it only 2 days after she shipped it to me. Hopefully a lucky streak will ensue and this won't be a one time win because it's a whole lot of fun to get a little treat in the mail. I've already started creating some projects with it that I will post soon. I've been busy house-hunting after work these last few days so I haven't been crafting much. But everyone check out her blog because she always has really informative posts and introduces other interesting blogs to follow.

Valentine's Window Card

Hi Everyone,

     I wanted to do a Valentine's card for my boyfriend and I didn't want to use the stereotypical colors. I was excited when I found this "quite the pear" dollar stamp at Michael's becase pears aren't red or pink! The pears and the sentiment were both on the stamp set. The card base I picked up at JoAnn's in a pack on clearance. I cut a circle window out of the front of the card base. Originally the front of the card said "hello" but I cut that out. The paper accents on the card were just scraps from my left over scrapbooking projects. The circle punch is from Fiskars and I just bought it and LOVE IT! I used my Cricut to cut some other circles out the teal circle for the shadow.The ribbon is from JoAnn's and it's a dark berry color. I outlined the pears with a white pen and put the dots on one pear. The stitching on the front of the card was also done with a white pen and I put some dots on the stamped sentiment. I rounded the corners of the card with my We R Memory Keepers corner chomper. And finally put a little bow on the front which I adhered with Zots glue dots. Hope my Honey loves his card!

Love "Window" Card

Hi Everyone,

I'm under the gun trying to get this post up quickly before leaving to go to a super bowl party. I have lots of new projects to post but this one only requires 2 pictures so I thought this would be a quick one to put up. I've been having alot of fun using my Fiskars circle punch on "window" cards lately. The card base was something I got a package of 8 or so for a dollar at JoAnn's and just decorated with some DCWV cardstock in a slate blue and purple color. The stamps are also Fiskars that I got at JoAnn's. I used the Cricut to cut the other layering circles in purple. A black embossing pen was used for the stitches on the card and for the heart inside I used clear embossing powder over a black inked stamp. You can't really tell in the pictures but I lined the inside of the card with gray cardstock and added shimmer chalk on the entire inside. It's much prettier in person. Shimmer chalk is one of my new obsessions but it's really hard to photograph.

Cricutless Scrapbook Layout

I wanted to share a layout I did before I got my Cricut about a year ago. This layout uses alot of inking, paper tearing and even some paper burning! This is actually the first and only layout that I've burned paper for but I think it looks really good and adds alot to the look. The title was written by hand with black embossing pens WHICH I SWEAR BY. I think they are amazing and I'm going to have to get another black embossing pen because I use mine so often. They're by Souffle and are called Glaze. The only downfall is that it takes awhile to dry. The brown paper on this layout is actually brown packaging paper that I burnt the edges of with a lighter to give the deteriorated look you see on the layout. The paper is all DCWV- The Far East paper collection. The paper all looked a little too bright and new for what I was going for so I just took black ink and rubbed my paper over the ink pad itself. I didn't use any tools at all. I literally rubbed the paper onto the ink pad. I really love the way it looks over the textured red cardstock because it makes the texture really POP. I hope you like it! Remember you can click on any of the pictures below to view them larger.

Scrapbooking Haul #4

Hi Ladies,

     I put together another haul video for you. I didn't get any super "exciting" treats. But I DID get some AMAZING DEALS. My favorite of everything in the video is my Darice Lock-Tight Storage container. I am not the cleanest person in the world. But I have a love affair with organization. I tend to micro organize. Like when I have to clean any room in my house, I'll start with the drawers and closets. So I'll basically be cleaning for hours and hours and it really doesn't even look like I did anything because once you shut all my immaculate closets it still looks like hell haha. I'm learning to be better at that. Although, I do think my calling in life would have been being a professional organizer. Any of you need help with those closets? I'll come to your house if you come to mine and do the floors, dishes and laundry. (all things I never make enough time for lol).

Halloween 2009 Scrapbook Layout

So, I wasn't planning on doing anything for Halloween in 2009 and at the last minute my childhood friend Lisa invited me to a house party that her friends were throwing. So, I threw together a completely unoriginal devil costume and wore some amazing shoes that I think bruised my feet for about 2 weeks. Literally, they were blue on the bottom. No joke. Anyways the paper is from the DCWV "The Fall Stack." I cut out the title with Plantin Schoolbook. All of the little spiderwebs were PAINSTAKINGLY cut out by hand to make little photo corners and page embellishments. I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to do that because literally I probably spent and hour doing just that part of this layout. At least it turned out well. However, I doubt I'll do that again lol. The circles were also cut out with Plantin Schoolbook and I just adhered them off center from each other to make it look more "spooky" I guess. Enjoy :)

Haul #3

Hi Ladies,

I have another haul video for you! I got some really good stuff. I'm excited. You'll have to comment and let me know where you usually go for good trims and ribbons because I think I overpaid for the ones I got from JoAnn's. I paid 20% off of $1.29 per yard of the ribbon featured in the video (which seemed high to me).

2-Year Anniversary and Ellianna's Birth Scrapbook layouts

Hi Ladies,

     For these layouts I used (almost) entirely things found in the Exscrapaganza kit from 3-birds that I got from one of the shopping networks on tv awhile ago. I love that it has an aged look without looking "shabby chic." Anyone who knows me knows my taste generally is for very contemporary looking styles and I think this paper walks the line between the two genres perfectly. Okay, so for my 2-year anniversary with my boyfriend, Mike we went back to the place where it all began. Andiamo's Italian Restaurant on the riverfront. The food was MARVELOUS and we hadn't been back there since our first date in 2007 so I was so excited. The service there is impeccable so if any of you are around Detroit, Michigan you should definitely check it out. The flowers I cut out with my Cricut. It's either from Accent Essentials or Plantin Schoolbook. The blue paper you see on the pages is actually really cheap colored printer paper. It's really thin but the color matched the pages perfectly and I had it on hand so I used it for the lower layer of the flower and to mat the photos. I used brown shimmer chalk all over the flowers, the title and the blue mats to age the look of the stark blue paper and add some glam. It's hard to see in the pictures but in person it's gorgeous. The chalk really adds alot of the look of everything. The orange brads I just had in my stash. Remember you can click on all of the pictures below to see a larger more detailed view.

     The other page is about my neice, Ellianna Annie's birth. Her birth was the most exciting of all 5 (and counting) of the neice/nephews because I didn't know the sex of the baby ahead of time. So, we all had bets going of whether or not it was a girl (I guessed right!). And when we went into the delivery room there was a little blue hat and a little pink hat SO CUTE** and we didn't even know Rachel (the mother's) name choice until and hour or so after she was born. The middle name was inspired by Rachel's sister who she's really close with, Annie. Anyways, back to the layout. The glittered chipboard photo corners, the stickers, flourishes, "memories", the bracket sticker next to the journaling and all the paper is from the kit. I love how it all came out. It was actually really easy to put together because it was a kit and the hard work was done for me for the most part. And despite that it was from a kit it's one of my favorite page sets that I've done. I never use kits. Part of me disagrees with them because I feel like it's "cheating" on some level. However, if more manufacturers came out with kits that looked as good as this one I might invest more in those. It's the only kit I own and have ever owned because whenever I see the kits in stores the products always look really cheap and yet the kits are way overpriced. So if any of you have any tips on where to find quality kits at bargain prices you'll have to share them with me. I love all of your great ideas and learn alot from my crafting buddies out there in cyberspace. Thanks for stopping by!

Haul Video #2

Hey! I just made my second haul video...well that's a lie. I actually made the video a week or 2 ago but was messing around with some video editing software so it took awhile to get it up on here. Hope you enjoy!

MGM Casino Layout

I'm so excited about this layout and the way the ribbon border came out. All of the paper is DCWV. I used white, gray and ice blue for mats. I cut the title out with the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge and shadowed the letters in gray. I embellished it with some "ice" like clear rhinestones. The ribbon at the top is this gorgeous, rich teal blue color that looks perfect with this cool winter layout. I weaved the ribbon through the paper after making evenly spaced holes in the page using my crop-a-dile. It was a pain staking process but I love the way it looks. I inked the journaling tags with black ink around the edges and used silver brads to hold them on. I used some snowflake stickers that I've had forever and didn't have a page they worked with until now so I was happy I got to use some of those.

Remember you can click on these pictures to enlarge and see more of a detailed view. Thanks for stopping by!

Mike's 27th Birthday Layout

     For my boyfriend's 27th birthday (2 years ago) we got a big group of our friends to go to one of his favorite eateries, Osaka's. It's a Japanese Habatchi restaurant where you sit with a group of people around a large flat grill and they cook your food right in front of you. It's sort of a show because they do little things during the course of cooking the food to entertain the guests. I made cupcakes which I brought with me to share after the meal and sing happy birthday and then we all headed over to a nearby bar to continue the party.

     I really love how this layout turned out. The paper is all DCWV. I used pink ribbon to embellish, baby blue brads as the centers of the fabric flowers and a white gelly roll pen for the faux stitching and date. I cut the circle patterns out of the paper to make photo corners, as well as the striped paper to make photo corners. You can click on all of the photos in this post to view them larger if you'd like. Thanks for stopping by!

Golf Fundraiser Layout

My boyfriend is a golf fanatic and has been trying to get me to golf with him for years. I've held strong and been extremely stubborn though because he refuses to do any of the dorky activities I enjoy, like game night for example lol. But our good friend's father passed away and they have an annual golf fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses and to help support her mother now that her dad is gone so I was persuaded to go. It was my first time out on the course, despite having worked at a golf course in the past *sad, I know.* But I actually didn't do too shabby! My boyfriend was watching me from another hole and was quite impressed with my swing. Now, we won't mention the fact that I had to swing at the ball several times (and miss) before finally hitting it and it going a decent distance and relatively straight haha. But hey, what can you expect. I've never been good at sports so I was happy with my performance. Plus everyone knows that golf isn't about doing well, it's about fun in the sun with good friends and good drinks! The paper for this layout game out great. It's all DCWV. I used a brown Close to my Heart marker for the journaling, some chocolate ribbon to separate the stripes from the grass paper and my Crop-a-dile to add the chocolate brown grommets at the bottom. The "GOLF" at the top were just some stickers that I had in my stash. I don't remember what brand they are.

Niece Ellianna's Baptism

I am so excited for these pages! I feel like the muted gray, green, brown and maroon colors along with the background images and everything just came together so well on here with very little embellishment. The layout is for my niece, Ellianna's baptism last year. The "baptism" cut was the first thing I ever learned to cut out with my Cricut!! My boyfriend Mike just bought it for me a year ago so I'm still learning because I haven't really had the time to fool around with it much. The background paper is DCWV but I can't remember who made the paper with the baby shoes and Christening gown because I've had this paper for about 15 years and just now got around to using it. I knew I kept it for a reason! I didn't finish the journaling because I have to find out how to spell the name of the Church we were at. I used a black embossing pen on the writing I put in there so far. I love those pens; they really add a great effect to pages.

Ashley's in Michigan Layouts

My best friend Ashley moved to Arizona a few years ago but decided to come back to her home town in Michigan to tie the knot. The left page is her wedding shower layout. I used her candy bar favor wrapper, the invitation to the shower and her thank you note she sent me afterward on the page. I wanted an antiqued look so I used sepia toned ink to ink the edges of some of the elements and ink the invitation and thank you note because they were such a bright white that I felt they were clashing with my color scheme. I used burgundy ribbon behind the photos to add some color to what is a pretty neutral page without it. All of the paper is DCWV. The other page is a party her mom threw for family a few days later at her house. Afterward we went to watch some Fourth of July fireworks in Downtown Mt.Clemens which has been a tradition of ours since we were in middle school. Again, all of the paper is DCWV and I added some brown ribbon on the mats to accent.