Special Delivery!

Since I have so many pictures to post, I figured I would post here instead of taking up so much room on the Cricut board.

I have to thank a few folks for some special unexpected gifts I received over the past few days. First I received some stamped images from a very special Cricut board member through a swap we were in together, and when I opened the envelope, she had included 12 Copic Markers. She said she had doubles and wanted to share them with me. I'm not going to include her name until I know she won't mind, I don't want folks bothering her, but this angel was so very sweet in sending such a generous gift...and it was Just Because! How incredibly nice was that?? I'm not usually speechless, but this gesture totally took all words from my brain and lips. I could only sit there in amazement at such a generous gift.

Then like that wasn't awesome enough, Yesterday I get a package in the mail with just THANK YOU in the return address corner. I open it up and I find this amazing altered composition book, some zutter chipboard, and package of bling in the box! I loved the chipboard and bling, but the book was my absolute favorite and was unbelievably awesome. It left me speechless once again!! That someone took so much time to personalize this book for me and to include things that she knew was special to me! Below are pictures of the book and each section she made in the book. On the backside of each of these dividers was decorated with paper from the DCWV ROCKSTAR Stack..I love that stack!!! But the front of these dividers were unbelievable, AND she took my autographed EVERCLEAR pic off my blog and reduced it and included it in my notebook as well. I thought that was really cool when I seen that in there!!! So i wanted to share all of her hard work with everyone!! I did however find out who the mystery sender was, I recognized the postmark, and it was from Nancy aka GOINCRICRAZY from the Cricut MB!!

I just want to thank both of you for being amazing ladies!!!!

Although I know that words will never repay you for these awesome gifts!!

THANK YOU!!

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (http://www.customcrops.com/)! GO NOW and check it out at http://www.thecuttlebugspot.com/

Twilight!!--Altered Mini Comp Book

Below is another project for a Twilight Swap I'm in. Hopefully the other ladies in my group will like them. Guess the good thing about having a 17yr old driving me crazy, I can get lost for a bit in my crafts...lol and get caught up in my swaps!

These are the smaller comp books then altered with different papers. Twilight pictures gathered and printed from various websites on the internet and then resized and laid out in PSP. Tree paper on the front and back from DCWV (thanks Anna for picking these up for me!!)
Divider made in the middle to hold the ribbon book mark. Apples are various buttons that I had on hand.
Thanks for looking!!

Altered Wood Box --Goth Fairy

Below is a wooden box that I altered for a Goth Swap I hosted on the Cricut MB. The Goth Fairy is by Jessica Galbreth. I'm a big fan of her work! Box was painted with a metallic red acrylic paint. Various ribbons, skull paper from the DCWV Rockstar Stack...name was cut out with SCAL..(Thanks Michele!!)

Thanks for looking!!!

Joy Fold Fathers Day Card

Ok I finally tried my hand at the Joy Fold Card. I figured I'd do Stephens Fathers Day Card as my first one. Not sure if I really like how it looks...who knows may redo it before tomorrow. Just think it's missing something, but then I didn't want to overdo it either. Says Happy Fathers Day on the inside in the middle, and has a Gift Certificate for a round of golf held inside also. Oh well it may be good enough for him lol he's not really going to look at the card anyways. But the Joy Fold Card itself is fun to do...I can see me doing more in the future!

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!!!

Enfys Has Awesome Blog Candy to Giveaway!!

You have got to check out the awesome blog candy that Enfys is offering over at
Going Buggy!!




Click on the link above and follow Enfys requirements for participating in her giveaway!!! What an awesome lady and great friends she has!!!!

Good luck to all of us!!

Fathers Day Card

First I want to thank Kelly aka KCS1955 on the Cricut MB and you can find her awesome blog at Kreative Korner by Kelly
She posted a Fathers Day card on the MB and I knew I had to lift it and make one for my dad. Her card was inspired by JoySikes also from the Cricut MB.
I didn't want Kelly to think I copied it inch by inch so I tried to change it up a bit and make it my own, but I loved the colors she used and knew my dad would too, so I did keep those the same, but tried to change the rest up. She helped me so much with answering all my questions and explaining how to print on cardstock, which I'm still learning, don't have that quite down yet. But I think overall it turned out pretty good and I think my dad will be impressed...hopefully.
Anyways, thanks for looking and again Thank you Kelly for all your help and inspiration and hopefully one day my cards will be as amazing as yours!!

and my Father In Laws Card

EVERCLEAR IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!! So I FINALLY got to see Everclear in concert tonight!!! They were opening for Edwin Mccain, which I didn't stay for, but I'm sure he was great..lol But they're doing a tour in honor of the military and they couldn't have been more amazing!!
It was everything I had ever imagined and then some!! It was a small concert at the Performing Arts Center here, which is fine because you get to see more and as you can see in the picture, a better chance of meeting them!!
The concert itself was totally amazing!! They sung all their most famous and well loved songs, well to me anyways! A few new ones off their upcoming CD. It was me, my youngest son Christopher and my hub Stephen that went. It was his first concert but he seemed to enjoy himself.
After their set, they announced that they would be outfront signing autographs, so we said goodbye to Edwin and me and Christopher ran up front. Lucky enough to get one of the papers so we were allowed to get in line to meet them!!! All I can say is they were amazing!!! SOoooooooooooo genuine and friendly!! Didn't rush us through the line, each one would stop and shake our hands, thank us for coming and ask us our name. They were so nice to Christopher, asking about his goals and dreams, what he was interested in. Such a great group of guys!! They definitely didn't disappoint me!! They totally made my night!! I feel like a teenager back in high school lol Who says teenagers are the only ones that can ROCK!?!?!
Thank you ART...Sam, Josh, Davey and Tommy for wonderful memories with my son!!

My son, Stephen, jamming on his guitar!

Below are a few videos of my oldest son, Stephen Jr. playing on his guitar today. He wanted to update his myspace, but since its my flipcam he was using, I get to share a little of him with my friends too!! He's 17 and will be graduating next summer. Where does the time go?? I'm so proud of him though. He makes me wanna commit myself to a padded room sometimes lol but overall he's a great kid. And theres sooooo much more he could be into these days, so I'm very proud of the man he's becoming!
He has self taught himself on the guitar. He went to a few classes but said the instructor was boring and slow, so that was that lol the rest he did on his own. He'll sit in his room and listen to the songs over and over and usually by the end of the night, I'll hear him in there playing them. I wish I had his natural talent.
Soon he'll be going off into the world by himself. It'll be hard to protect him when I won't know what he's doing or where he is, but no matter how much I would love to keep him home, I know he has to find himself and make a life of his own. I know he's a smart young man and I can only hope that he makes the right choices and if not, he learns from the wrong choices and mistakes he may make through life.
And when his heart gets broke, has trouble finding his way or just needs to talk, I'll be here eagerly waiting to wrap my arms around him again.
And when he's rich and famous, I hope he remembers Mom!
I love you Stephen and I'm sooo very proud of you!!!

I GOT AN AWARD!!!!

OMGosh! I got an award!! Thank you to Jo Ann over at Scrappin Addict for thinking my page was nice enough for an award. hmmm or maybe she just couldn't think of a 7th person LOL Either way, I"LLL TAKE IT!!!!! YAY!!!! Ok so first I'd like to thank my parents, without them, none of this would be possible!!! Second, I would...ok wait..first I would like to thank my DH...without his paycheck, none of this would be possible!!! And well ya know the list goes on, but the paychecks the most important!! I am lucky enough to have friends that push me to keep doing these crafts, thinking outside the box and wondering why I do them when sometimes it seems like folks just don't get it or appreciate it. So its nice to see its not all for nothing. How awesome..ya made my day!! Ok so I need to do a few things in return!... Here we go....

1: Thank the person who gave me the award and link to their blog (Completed)
2: List 10 honest things about myself:

1. I love making altered items.
2. I have a small fortune invested in my craft room.
3. I have made some really great friends through crafting and the Cricut MB.
4. I have a problem with procrastination and motivation.
5. I have two great sons that I love dearly and will miss as they go off into the world.
6. I'm lucky to have a great DH who supports my crafting addiction.
7. I happen to talk too much and sometimes lose friendships because of it.
8. I miss my nephews and nieces soooo very much!
9. I really wish my mom and I could be closer..but never see it happening.
10. I really have a lot of swaps I need to get finished.

3:Put the award on my blog(Completed)
4:Pick 7 people to give the award to:

In no particular order.....

A Scrapping Mom's Scraps

~*~Niki's Cards ~*~

Going Buggy

Design~Create~Inspire

Denise Loves Stamps

Hand to Paper

Dee's Special Things

Altered Drink Recipe MiniAlbum with BIA

Ok...tonight was interesting to say the least lol I FINALLY took my Bind-it-All out of the bag it came in and used it!! Yes you heard me right...I used my Bind-It-All!! To be such a small thing, it sure holds a big intimidation factor!! I was soooo scared to make that first punch in fear it would screw up my page and then I'd have to start over lol but i finally just took the plunge and I think it turned out ok, could be better though.

Anyways this book was made for an Adult Drink Paintcan Swap I'm in. It's a mixed drink recipe book. The covers and pages are coasters that were bought from Michaels and I altered them.

Thanks for looking!!

Front Cover


Inside front cover


Page One and Page Two


Page Three and Page Four


Page Five and Page Six


Page Seven and Page Eight


Inside back Cover

My Sesame Street Friends!!!

Ok I know for you seasoned Cricut users, this isn't a big deal lol But for those of you who know me, knows that for the longest time, I have been a bit of a collector of sorts, but I'm getting better!! Just to prove it....look what I made tonight!!! My first time at cutting and doing layers with Cricut cuts. A member on the board wanted some Sesame cuts so I volunteered, being the sweet person that I am lol yeah i know what you're saying....lol anywho...These are what I came up with. What ya think?? Would you put them in your scrapbook??

These were done with the Sesame Street & Friends Cricut Cartridge. All done at 4inches. Various types of cardstock.

Thanks for looking!! Hmmm wonder what all these other carts have on them...lol

Altered Spring/Girly Journaling Tags

These are some Spring/Girly Journaling Tags that I altered for a swap that I was in. They've all been mailed in so I figured I'd go ahead and post. These were my first journaling tags that I altered. The journaling area is on the back on the tag. Fibers were added to the top of the tag. Paper is from InqueBoutique. I traced the flowers on the paper with various colors of Liquid Pearls. Various buttons added to middle of flowers. Stickles to accent around center. Bug embellishments added. Some were buttons that had the shanks removed and others are skittles that I made to look like bugs crawling on the flowers.
Thanks for looking!

Card set with Purse

Well I finally made myself take a break from all the swaps I'm in to make this Card set.
A great friend of mine was selling a few of her House Mouse stamps, and we all know how much I love those, so she came up with a great idea. Instead of me paying her, I would make her some handmade cards. Hopefully I've done the trade justice and she doesn't feel jipped.
Anyways, I got the idea and pattern for the purse from the PaperCrafts magazine, 225 Cards & Gifts Issue. the stamps are called "Fairy Tales" from The Angel Company. Various papers and cardstock. Stickles decorate the front of the purse along with a few gems in the middle of the flowers.
Hope she likes and you liked looking as well!

Mothers Day Paint Can

Here's my latest altered paint can. It was made for my partner in the Mothers Day Paint can Swap. Flowers on top are from Primas. Ribbon from Big Lots and Michaels. Mini Skittles around the middle of the can. Name was cut out on the Quickutz Silhouette. Papers are from the DCWV Spring Stack.
Hope ya like and thanks for looking!!