Seasons Greetings

This is a card I actually did last year, but in digging through my things found it again. I really like the idea of it, and think I will make more with different papers/stamps.

It’s a top fold normal size card. Then with a z-fold attachment on the front of the card, held closed by a ribbon (glued between the z-fold and the front of the card).

It would be really cute to put pictures inside, but I just stamped more on the folds.

Recipe:

Paper: CTMH - Patterend Paper retired, Holiday Red Cardstock
Stamps: CTMH - I can’t remember the name of this set, but I believe it’s retired too
Misc: CMTH - Buttons, eyelets, ribbon and inks

It’s snowing!

It started on my way home from work, and has just kept right on falling! It’s a little wet and heavy right now, but we’re supposed to get 3-5 inches tonight. It’s the first snow of the year!

The picture is a little fuzzy, but it’s really hard to get a good night time pic of snow!!

At the Beach in Barcelona!

I also managed to get some layouts done at the Retreat I was at earlier this month (only 3, but I’m quite proud of those 3 layouts ).

Back in May 2000 I went to Europe with my parents and a friend. I’ve spent the last 4 Retreats I’ve been to scrapbooking this trip. I’m on Day 5 of a 17 day trip, and have a total of 21 pages down. Sheesh! I’m going to have a HUGE book!

This was Day 2 or 3. We were leaving on a cruise from Barcelona. The day before we walked all over Barcelona, and ended up at the Beach. We were so excited to get to the Beach, but were quickly disappointed. The beach was just filled with trash everywhere (litter), and it was a nude beach as well! Let’s just say there should definitely be rules about who should be allowed to go nude and who shouldn’t be (think little old women AND men!!!!).

Anyway, at the Retreat they had a Block Bucket (I think that’s what they called it - correct me if I’m wrong you guys)! It was a great idea really. Inside a bucket were dozens of different challenges if you couldn’t decide what you wanted to do on a page. I pulled one out for this page and the Challenge was to mat a photo on a photo. I’m not sure that this is exactly what they meant by that, but this is how I went about it!

Recipe:

Papers: CTMH - Metropolitan Level 1 Kit (retired), Vintage Travel Papers, Vintage Travel Stickease
Accessories: CTMH - Brads, Photo Hangers, Ribbon, Hemp

Our Greatest Glory …

Well - let me tell you, I haven’t been feeling “crafty” lately. Despite that, the last few days have been spent actually cross stitching. I have a project or two that I need to finish up for Christmas! Once Christmas comes and goes, I’ll post a picture of what I’m working on. I think it’s going to turn out really pretty.

Here’s another matching card from the set of cards I’ve posted below.

It’s a square card (I think 5.5 x 5.5). It’s really simple, just some paper piecing basically. I felt that it needed something extra, but after adding the ribbon couldn’t really decide on what else it needed - so decided to just leave it alone!

The stamps and paper and inks are all CTMH.

The saying: Our Greatest glory is not in never failing … but in rising up everytime we fail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Matching Shelves!

First of all, please excuse the messy desk!!! I have some serious cleaning up to do in my craft area.

Well, My Dad has been at it again! This time he’s built shelves to go on top of my 6 foot table. It gives me more space in my already small room to work. He made them specifically so that my Cricut and Cuttlebug would slide under them for storage.

I haven’t totally decided if everything I have piled on top of them and under them is staying where it is now, but I’m trying to get an idea of what I always want to be closest to me when I’m making cards and scrapbooking!

Thanks Dad! You know I love them!

Beauty of Christmas

I love this card. It’s so pretty I think.

Stamps, paper, inks and ribbon is all CTMH. I dry brushed the back piece of green with white MM paint. And used Liquid Applique to add the snow to the trees.

Love

I made several cards with this same color scheme and stamps, so you’ll be seeing more in the near future!

One of a Kind!

Ok - finally, another card.

I used the same patterened paper as in the last card, and I have no idea who made it. The cardstock is bazzill. The stamp is the CTMH August SOTM, and the bling and edge anchors are also CTMH. The flowers are Prima.

A Picture is worth 1000 words!

Four scans later, and I”m confident I have a clean machine! WOOHOO!!!

So, I’ve been sick the last few days. Yesterday was probably the worst of it. I didn’t do much of anything at all yesterday. I was sitting in my chair watching some TV yesterday afternoon when Jack, my dog, started acting odd. I assumed he needed to go outside. I wasn’t thrilled to get out of my chair, cause frankly I had no energy, but it was easier than cleaning up a potential mess if I avoided him.

I drag myself up, and come into the hallway to find this:

You see, those pillows HAD been sitting vertical all lined up next to the blankets on that table. Jack’s problem with that is that his little yellow ball went UNDER the table and he couldn’t get it. He figured if he could get all the pillows out of the way he’d be able to find it!!! When he saw that I was getting up, he ran out ahead of me and stood there! So proud of his work. How could I not laugh?!?! So of course, I had to snap a picture, and yes, I will scrapbook it!

Important Lessons!

So … let’s talk Internet Security shall we?

Last night I was google-ing along and came across a site that wanted to do an auto-download. Now, I know not to click Ok. Part of my job is IT afterall.

Well, since I wasn’t really paying much attention, instead of clicking CANCEL (like you all should if you’re not sure about an auto-download) I ended up clicking OK by accident. UGH! Let me just tell you - that shot my night.

I spent several hours last night fighting the dang Trojan virus. It hijacked my internet browser - not good.

Before you ask - YES, I have antivirus on my computers. I use McAfee on both of my computers. And yes, it did catch the virus - but not in time. It had already changed entries in my registery. Talk about a nightmare. So, while McAfee did clear the virus, the damage was done.

Now - let me tell you about the best program out there! It’ll save you a trip to a computer tech - and some money most likely.

Spyware Doctor from PC Tools is fantastic!!!!!!!! It costs $30! And within about 90 minutes of downloading it - everything was back to normal on my desktop!!!!!! I’m soooo happy about that. The $30 is actually a year long subscription and works in conjuntion with your current antivirus. It goes deeper though, and is able to clean out the registery as well. (NO, I’m not affliated with either site, just a happy customer!)

Anyway, so, friendly warning, just be careful about what you download and click on! But if you do have a problem, there is a great problem out there that’ll help!

Tonight I’m taking the time to run another McAfee full scan, another Spy Doctor scan, and a Spybot scan. Once all those run and clear my machine one more time, then I can start posting artwork again (and yes, I have several things to post)!!!!

Paper Flower

I really like this card. I don’t know what company the patterned paper is from. The brown cardstock is bazzill (my new obsession). Everything else is CTMH. The stamp is from the August SOTM.

Colors and Punches

The colors for my last card were (all CTMH):

Sweet Leaf
New England Ivy
Blush
Hollyhock

And the Slot Punch and Round Tab Punch are both from Stampin’ Up.

I’m back!

Hi everyone!

Well, it’s been a long couple of weeks!

But, I finally made it packed and got to my Retreat over last weekend. I had 3 days of great times with a bunch of scrapbooking friends in the middle of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. Each year we meet up there and have 3 days of nothing but fun and scrapbooking!

For the last two years we’ve met at The Mountain River Lodge. It’s a great place, and so beautiful!!

I got a grand total of 3 pages done and around 30 cards! LOL I know - it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s about the same as I got done last year. I’m pretty happy over all. And I did get my Christmas cards done, so I can’t ask for much more than that.

I’ll be sharing the stuff I got done over the next several days.

To start here are 3 cards. All paper/ink/stamps are CTMH. Enjoy!