Finally

I have been soo behind on pretty much everything lately, and I am going to try and get my blog up to date, I have a couple new projects I want to share, and also some new pictures of my family. I will hopefully be more up to date with future posts!! 
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and I hope you all did too. I am all set for Christmas, thanks to black friday, and cyber monday!! I have a couple things to make for presents but I am finished with all the other stuff. I actually stayed in budget this year too! It was too easy with all the wonderful sales. 
I even bought a few cricut cartridges from walmart.. I can't pass 30 for a cartridge.. lol :) 
I was also able to grab the martha stewart scoreboard, and it looks awesome, I cannot wait to use this. I love my crafter's companion, but I think the martha stewart score board will come in handy for bigger projects. 
I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday spirit, and I will do my best to keep my blog up to date. 
:) 

Provo Craft is Celebrating 100 Cricut Cartridges!!!!!

Because of their milestone, 100 cartridges, Provo Craft is giving away 20 cartridges over five weeks!!! How awesome is that!! You can go to the cricut website to check out the details, and if you are a member you can sign in and post on their threads, and be entered to win!! How cool is that?? Anyways, here is the lucky number 100. Winter Woodland!! I want this cart soo bad, they have some really cute stuff on it, and another cool site I have been checking, christmas with the cricut, has some cute projects, that they made with it. 
Well, go enter to win, and come celebrate with us on the cricut board!! It is alot of fun!!! 
Here is the link to the Winter Woodland cart, check it out!!! :) 


http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2

First Day of School for Nicholas!!!!!

Today was Nicholas' first day of third grade!! I just cannot believe how big he is getting and that it was his first day!! It is sooo hard to believe he will be nine in April!! He was up late Sunday night, I think it was nerves, but he did well for having to get up early. I however, was not ready for the early morning!! I was really cranky this afternoon!! LOL!! He has a friend sleeping over tonight, and they are all excited for their second day!! We usually don't allow sleepovers on a school night, but this is a little different.. Don't want to go into details on a public blog, you know?? But anyways, Here are some pics of the first day, I will finally have some new projects posted this week as well, as well as better pics of my room...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful night!!!!

Thanking God.....

My husband and I own a small construction company, and today we are beyond grateful that one of our employees, is alive, and safe. He has diabetes, and on the way home tonight he had an accident in one of our trucks. We are sure he let his blood sugar get to low, and in doing so, he lost control, rolled several times, and had to be be cut out of the truck.. We are beyond grateful to God, for having his hand upon our friend. We are soo grateful he was wearing his seatbelt, it saved his life!!!! Had he been thrown from the truck, it could have been sooo much worse.. He has a few fractures, some cuts, lots of bruises, but he is alive!!!!! I am glad he will get to have another day with his family, and that hopefully, prayerfully, he will manage his diabetes a little better... He hadn't had too much to eat today, and we believe that is what caused him to pass out, the hospital said his sugar was extremely low... We are sooo happy that he is okay.. If you could have seen the truck, you would understand... I have to take pictures of it tommorrow, and I will post it. It was absolutely frightening to see it, to know he had been in it!!!!! I am just sitting here praising God for his absolute power.. He held our friend in the palm of his hand, and allowed him to walk out of that twisted metal alive...
Hug your family and friends real tight, and as much as you can!! You just never know when life can change...

Update

I am trying to get good pics of my scraproom, and they are not turning out!! LOL!!
I hope tommorrow will be better and will get those posted. I started a card, and hope to get that finished, I keep getting sidetracked, and my house keeps calling my name to clean it!!!!!
Tommorrow my little dog Biscuit has to go to the vet. She is getting spayed.. She had a litter of pups back in March, and I just realized it was that time again... She has had boy dogs camping out on our porch.. It really has been weird!! So hopefully they will go away after tommorrow!!!! I will feel much better knowing, I will not have to deal with the birth of ten puppies again, it was a great time for the boys, but a little stressful for me. Seven lived, and we found good homes for them all, and close enough we still get to see them...
I will post pics of Biscuit soon, she is pure black, and her puppy pappi, is a golden color... LOL!! It was funny!! One of her other pups has several shades, of a red-gold, silver, and gold!! She is gorgeous... I wish I had pics of her..
Well, I am off to try and get some sleep, haven't been sleeping too much lately.

Going to get creative!!!

I have been spending alot of time organizing my house and my scraproom, the past couple of days, so I am really hoping that maybe I will get to get creative this weekend!! Especially since it is supposed to rain all weekend. So maybe I will get to play with my new stamps, and crafters companion. The video it came with is awesome, you really can do sooo much with this little box!!! It has super easy instructions for nice looking pop0up cards!! I really want to try some of those... I also need to get my cousins album done, I have let too much in my life get in the way of finishing it, so I really need to get focused. Hopefully I will not get sidetracked on organizing something else. Will be posting pics of my scraproom too this weekend.. I think I finally have it the way I want it...
Here's to getting some creative time!!!!!!
:)

A Card I Made Today...

I made this card for my sister, today is her birthday. I also made one in blue for one of our employees who had a birthday on Saturday.. I played with Copics for the first time, and I think I did okay.. I still need lots of practice, but I think this turned out okay...

Check out the slideshow of pappi, he was holding my magazine hostage the other night... LOL!!!
Thanks for looking!!!!!!!!

Pics From CHA Posted Below!!!!

Here are pics, of all the goodies I brought home from CHA.. It was soo much fun, seeing all the neat things that were there, and actually seeing some celebrities. Donna Dewberry threw me a jar of some cool glitter, and of course I embaressed myself and dropped it, lol!!! She was really nice, I wish I had thought to snap a pic with her... I also met the designers at papertrey ink, they were the ones passing the free goodies out.. I happen to really like Nicole Heady, and bought quite a bit of the sets she designed, and got to meet her... Again, I should have taken my phone out and snapped a pic... I was just a little overwhelmed at just the amount of stuff at this place, so I was not thinking about pictures... lol.. I really hope that they do this again, it was alot of fun, and sooo worth going!!! Thanks for being patient, and waiting sooo long for the pics, I get sooo sidetracked.

CHA Was Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I did not get on here sooner, I was busy this week at home, since I haven't been home much the past couple of weeks... I attended both days at CHA and it was wonderful!!! The freebies were awesome, and all the deals!!!! I have to say that Joann's freebies were the best. They gave out a Bowdabra, and a bead spinner. Both of these in a bag with more goodies!!! It was sooo nice!! I also was able to check out the papertrey ink booth, and it was worth waiting in line for almost two hours!!! LOL!!!! They have a really great product, and the stamps are sooo cute!!!
My other favorite was the Crafter's Companion booth. I totally loved the guy who was showing us the product, and he gave my mom and I great deals on their product!! The accent was sooo dreamy!! lol!!!! (sorry, couldn't help it... ;) I am really looking forward to using the crafter's companion, it has sooo much potential, and it seems like a better investment than the scor-pal I was going to get. Although I may very well end up getting that as well. Will have to see. I have been checking out the website for ideas, and it looks sooooo versatile!!! Soo worth the money!!!
My sister bought the I-Top, and I hope to borrow that. I will probably end up with one of my own eventually... lol!! Brads are a favorite embellishment, and being able to make them is sooo cool!!!! I have lots of pics to download and post, and I will hopefully get to that tonight..
Hope everyone has had a great week!!!
Happy Friday!!!
:)

Going to CHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got back from a little vacation to Stone Mountain, and Helen Georgia. Now I will be at the CHA supershow this weekend!!!! I am sooooo excited. I really do not need anything, but it will be nice to get away. At least for a little bit. I know I will miss my crazy boys, but I think we have seen enough of each other this past week!!! LOL!!!
I am going to bring my laptop, in the hopes that the hotel will have free wireless!! I will keep my blog updated with all the goodies I see, and of course buy!!!
I may also get to meet up with some cricut mb members!! Well, I am off to finish packing my clothes, and making my list of important stuff I already have, so I don't buy doubles...
Can't wait for CHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)

Valentine Card with House Mouse

Another card I made for the card swap. I used my cuttlebug and a SU tab stamp set.. Another house mouse stamp as well, This is another of my first attempts at gamsol.

Happy Birthday House Mouse Card

This is a card I made for a card swap. It was one of my first attempts using the gamsol technique. I used the cuttlebug Happy Birthday folder, and one of my house mouse stamps..

I just love these stamps!! They are soo cute!!!

Hodge Podge of Projects

I cannot get this one slideshow to do right, so I am just adding the link... Thanks for looking...

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/marylizka/miscellanous/?action=view&current=b4130322.pbw


This is a mix of projects I have made the past couple of years.. Mainly for swaps on the cricut messageboard. I really had alot of fun making them, I just haven't had much time to participate lately..
Some of these aren't the best, but I am still learning as I go...
Thanks for looking.
:)

Americana Centerpiece

I made this for my dining room table, because I really like to have something there all the time, and since my house is decorated in Americana I thought I would raid my stash, and make one.. I also am going to use this as my entry for the Today's Momma, and cricut contest. You can check out the rules here: http://www.todaysmomma.com/ click on giveaways.. and http://www.cricut.com/ it is listed under cricut chat.

Here are all the directions for putting this together. Thanks for looking!!!! :)

1.) Using the Walk In My Garden Cartridge I cut out the aster flower at 3 inches, and then at 2 3/4 inches, and again at 3 1/2 and 3 1/4 then the last size of 3 inches. I cut these out several times using the americana patterned paper.
2.) Using the Graphically Speaking Cart, I cut out the flag on the Icon Blackout at 5 1/2 inches. I did this twice.
Then I cut out the flag using the Icon key at 5 1/2 inches. I did this twice as well.
Then I cut out the star using the Icon Shift Key at 5 1/2 inches. I then attached all the pieces together, inked the edges of the flag using Tim Holtz distress ink in Brushed Corduroy. I inked the star after embossing it with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder in Tim Holtz distress ink in fired brick.
3.) I cut out the freedom cut at 4 3/4 inches. I inked this with the brushed corduroy ink as well.
4.) Using Accent Essentials I cut out accent 18 at 6 inches, and then cut out accent 24 at 4 1/2 inches. I also inked these with the corduroy ink.
5.) Using Walk In My Garden again, I cut out the Blossom at 2 1/2 inches using Stampin Up Cardstock, in the latest In Colors. Cut out the aster at 3 inches in the cardstock as well.
I ran these through the cuttlebug as well, using the swiss dots folder, and inked them with the corduroy ink.
6.) I used flower foam and hot glued it to the bottom of the tin.
7.) I inked all the skewers using Tim Holtz distress ink in Fired Brick, and Weathered Wood. Some of the skewers I had to cut down, it just depends on preference... and where it is placed in the tin.
8.) I was able to tape the larger pieces to skewers, however on the smaller pieces, I had to use a hot glue gun. I glued one of the flowers to one side, and then glued the opposite flower to the other side, in a pinwheel like pattern.
9.) On the bigger flowers, with a hole in the middle, I hot glued a crystal to the middle to add a little sparkle.
10.) I arranged all the pieces in the tin, and played with it until it looked okay.
11.) I then took red tissue paper and folded it in triangles and cut it to fit, and covered the foam all around the tin, and fussed with it until it looked right.

I hope I covered everything I did, and all the materials I used, I really had alot of fun making this, and plan on doing some holiday ones for fall, and christmas... I just don't like my table to be bare... lol.. Thanks for looking!!!!! :)

Daddy's Boys Layout

This is one of my favorites, because it is simple, and the pictures are really good. I covered the one picture because Freddy did not want to be online... lol!! Connor was a good sleeper for a baby, and he would sleep by himself which was very unusual for us.. Freddy kinda ruined it as he got older, but once he goes to sleep, he usually does not wake up unless he is not feeling well.

This was just SU cardstock, and marker for journaling, prima flowers, and dewdrops. Teardrop Cartridge for the Title. The scroll stamps are a clear stamp set I bought from Joann's. Will check the manufacturer on that too.

Silly Pics Layout

Just a simple layout I did, to use up some pics, that really had no theme to them... So I just used them all together on this layout.. I used SU cardstock, and some of those thickers by american crafts for the title. Connor was sooo tiny in these pictures!! I love the ones with Nicholas and him, because now all they do is pick on each other... Every now and again you can see the love they had... lol....

Bath Time Layout

One of my most recent layots for Connor's baby book. I used New Arrival for the ducks, bubbles, and bathtime, and I used all SU cardstock as well. I also used SU inks to ink the ducks and mats. I also used Stickles to add some sparkle to his bubbles. I also used a white gel pen to add journaling.

12x12 Baby Boy Album

I made this for my mom, one of her friends at work was pregnant, and my mom said she wasn't really a crafty type, but wanted her to have an album for her first baby... I used New Arrival, All Mixed Up cricut cartridges. I also used the DCWV Nana's Kids Baby Boy Stack. As well as the DCWV Glitter Matstack. I used Primas, and Dewdrops (also called skittles). I used Stickles and Aleene's Paper Glaze as well. The cardstock was SU. I also used my new nestabilities... I only have one set, but man are they nice!!!! My mom said her friend just looked at the book, and cried and cried... She said she couldn't believe how nice it was... My mom bought me two new cartridges for doing the album. I think the baby is three weeks old now.. And my mom says he is a chunk... lol!! Oh, I also used SU stamps, and the SU scalloped circle punch, and I think the square one too.. I also inked everything with SU ink, or dewdrop chalk inks.

Wedding Purse

This is more of the paper line I found at the LSS. I used two different kinds, and used Mini-Monograms to cut out the scallops and shadows. The jeweled brads are from the creating keepsakes line, Joann's had. I also inked all the edges on this.

David and Angela's Mini Wedding Album

I made this last year, for our good friends David and Angela. They had a gorgeous wedding in Miami, and Freddy and Nicholas were apart of the wedding. I loved the colors she picked, and found a great line that included them at my LSS. I will have to go see if I have any left to list what paper line it was. I will get that added soon. I also used Bazzill Bling, and Walk In My Garden Cartridge. The pearls were from oriental trader, and the stickers were from the same line as the paper. The label holder is from SU, their hodge podge hardware kit. I also used SU ink to ink the pages.. They ended up using this album as their guest book. I think they were really happy with it. It was alot fun making this.

Card to Match Mini- Album

The matching card. I think I used Tear Drop as the font on this one. I used SU patterned paper, and primas, and brads. The fibers are either some I bought from Big Lots, or they were from a package. I love inking and use it quite a bit on almost everything I make. I just like how it adds that little something.

Mini Baby Album

I made this as another gift for friends of ours. This was for their daughter Raechal. She just turned two. I used SU patterned paper on this, as well as Primas. I am pretty sure the chipboard letter was either from SU or from another kit. This was one of my favorite designer series lines from SU, I wish they still had it!!!

1st Page in All About Me Album

This was all our stats, what year we were born, etc... I used Prima flowers on this, and jeweled brads from creating keepsakes... Alot of inking as well. I think this font on here is Base Camp, I don't think I could OA to get small enough for the title on this page.

2nd Page in All About Me Album

On this one we had to tell about our name, where it came from, what it means etc... I used SU patterned paper again, and the Opposites Attract cartridge... More cuttlebug embossing as well. I pretty much kept all the embellishments the same, because I wanted to make it easy, and knowing it might be awhile before I worked on it, I needed to be sure it was to figure out what I used... This is really my favorite color combo, blue and brown. It is sooo pretty!!!!!

All About Me Album Cover

The cover to my All About Me album I started in 2007 I think. I followed ideas from Beccy, she used to post quite regularly on cricut.com, and she has a blog I think, but I never saved it... She was really inspiring, and very supportive of everyone. I really enjoyed her posts on the cricut website. I have a couple more pages I did, of this album, just haven't taken pictures.. I used Stampin Up patterned paper, cardstock, ink, and I think the chipboard letters are BasicGrey, I used Opposites Attract for the title. The flower is from Prima. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the embossing, and for the photo corners as well. I think the brads are from the creating keepsakes line at Joanne's.

I really liked how this album started turning out, I just really need to finish it!!!