It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

...everywhere you go, including my blog!  I hope no one minds that I once AGAIN changed the look of my blog - I tend to do that with the seasons/holidays.  Let me know what you think.

Thanksgiving placecards

I know these aren't as fancy as some people's placecards I've seen posted, but this idea was from Carrie over at Greenbean's Crafterole, and I loved it when I saw it.  I used the pumpkin cut from Create A Critter for some, and the turkey from Doodlecharms for some.  I wanted to put some more details on them, such as the lines on the pumpkins and coloring in the plate on the turkey, but everyone came so early that I hadn't even finished the names yet, and they were all up in my face wondering what I had, LOL!!  Oh well.  The nieces and nephews all liked them - even my 23 year old niece loved it! 

Eww, look how awful my handwriting is!  Yuck.  Anyway, I used thin chipboard that I got off of eBay a year or so ago, but you could use cereal boxes too, since that is what I normally use.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and weekend.  Thanks for visiting!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I couldn't decide which  I liked better, so I decided to post both!  We got an extra special surprise this monring when it started snowing here in Philly!  We have the parade down the Parkway every year, and it looked so beautiful with the snow falling!!  Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and takes time to be thankful for everything we have!

Just in case anyone didn't believe me, I just took this picture a few minutes ago!  So pretty!

Finished MTC print and cut project!

Whew, I can't believe that it has been almost a week since I've posted!  I have been putting in so many days and hours at work, I am EXHAUSTED!  Literally - I have worked every day since last Sunday, the 14th.  I have yet to get a day off since then, so crafting hasn't been happening much lately.

I was able to crank this out last night, though, and I think it turned out OK for being thrown together in literally 5 minutes!  I used a printable set from Treasure Box Designs, and how cute is she?!?!  I also got a stamp set from Scrappy Moms, and I LOVE how perfectly this picture went with the sentiment!  So, I printed her on the MTC mat at 5.5"x4.5".  Once I saw it, I knew it was too big for a card, so I had to get my brain working to figure out what I could do.  I ran to Wal Mart and got a $1.00 cheap picture frame, and used only the easel back of it to make this.  I covered the easel with a 5.5"x7.5" mat from American Crafts Merrymint pack from last year, then I used a 6.5"x8.5" piece of green, cut the square out of the middle, used an SU! lights wheel stamp, the Scrappy Mmoms stamp for the sentiment, and that was it!

I don't have a picture of it, but I also cut out extra layers of just the bear and made her dimensional.  Maybe I will try to get a picture of that later to illustrate, but basically I printed out the entire image, then adjusted the settings in MTC so it would only print and cut out the bear parts.  I then used pop dots to layer her face, arms, and feet!  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE MTC?!?!  Lol!

Ok, definitely going to try to get a picture of the dimensional aspects up, maybe with some screen shots of what I did in Make the Cut to achieve this??  Anyone think they may like to see that??  Thanks for visiting today!

Print and Cut with Make the Cut....WOOO HOOOOO!!!!

OK, so I have been really excited about this for over a week, but have been working until almost 10 every night and unable to play until now.  I think you are all aware how much I LOVE my Make the Cut, and now, Andy, the developer, has added in a way to print and cut images.  The ones below are from Treasure Box Designs, and I cannot be more excited about how they came out!  I got the paper placement just the slightest bit off, but for a very first try, I think it came out pretty well!!  I am going to need to buy printer ink every week, I'm so hooked! 

The newest version of MTC also has a rhinestone template feature, for which I bought a new iRock tool.  Hopefully, I get to play with that feature soon!!  Thanks for visiting today - now I need to turn these cute cut outs into projects!!!

Glitter ornaments for the cause

This week, my school is hosting a Coaches vs Cancer basketball tournament in honor of my co-worker's mom, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2008.  People usually donate items to be sold to raise money, so this was my contribution.  I used Stand and Salute for the awareness ribbon, and did the floor polish technique we all know and love for the glitter, lol!  I thought lavender was the color for ovarian cancer, but just found out it is turquoise, so OOPS!! 

I only made eight for now, since these were such an epic fail at the craft fair I did a few weeks ago.  If they sell, I can always make more for later in the week, as the tournament runs all week and weekend!  Thanks for visiting today!

T-shirt painting

This was another project I did for the craft fair, that I had forgotten to photograph and post - oops!  This was very simple, and I used Hello Kitty Greetings and Pooh Font for it.  I love Pooh Font for these baby onesies, as it is so simple and cute.  Anyway, I just did the blackout for the orange base, and then cut the layer, ironed on the second piece of freezer paper after the orange was dry, and painted in the black.  Simple!!  Thanks for visiting today!

First time playing with.....

Chalkboard paint!!!!  I first learned of this after seeing Carrie at Greenbean's Crafterole do her tutu chalkboards, and I had no clue prior to that there was such a thing as chalkboard paint. So I decided it was time to go to Lowe's and give it a shot.  This was so easy, it's ridiculous!  I cut the penguin at 10" tall from Animal Kingdom out of a cereal box, and painted it with the chalkboard paint.  I then used the face layer to paint the white for the face and orange for the beak.  I have written and erased several times, and I love it!

I chose the penguin because I made this to keep at my boyfriend's, and he loves penguins!  Every time we see one on TV, he gets a big smile on his face, so this was a no brainer.  Sorry about the quality of the picture, but I had to use my cell phone, so it is marginal at best, but you can get the idea.  Anyway, this was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend playing with this paint and technique to everyone!  Thanks for visiting today.

Third and final old Thanksgiving card

I think maybe this one is my favorite, but I don't know.  What do you all think?  The beard and mustache are from Paper Doll Dress Up, and they are supposed to be Santa's, but I made them black for his "disguise".  More stickles on this one and (thank you for the comment in the first post) the turkey is from Animal Kingdom.  I'm currently working on my first project in over a month, so hopefully I will be posting something brand new in the next couple of days!  Thanks for visiting today.

Old Thanksgiving card #2

OK, here is the second one.  I used a Cuttlebug folder on the mat, and I thought the googly eyes gave him the perfect expression for the sentiment.  Stickles galore again on this one!  Thanks for visiting today!

Old Thansgiving cards

For the next three days, I will be sharing three Thanksgiving cards I made last year.  Again, this was in the first few weeks of my cardmaking, and it's funny to see how elementary my first few weeks were.  Notice the overuse of stickles - yeah, I had just bought them and this was my first work with them!  LOL.  I don't even remember what cart the turkey is from, since this was long before my Gypsy or design studio days.  I used my printer for the sentiments, and a few stickers here and there.  I also used the Bazzill swiss dots papers on two of them.  So, here is the first one, a Thanksgiving card circa 2009.  Thanks for visiting today!

Attitude aplenty!! LOL

I want to thank Stacy, over at Love that Bug, for giving me this award!  I was very surprised, and not sure I deserved an award due to my sporadic posting lately, but when I saw the title of the award, I was like, "Yeah, there's one I can accept!"  LOL!  Well, Stacy is jsut so sweet, and she always takes the time to comment on many of my posts, and I am always so appreciative of that.  She does some amazing work over there, so please take a minute to check out her site - and her adorable monkeys!! 

The rules for this award are simple and few - to list three things about me and my blog that make it unique, and to pass it along to five other bloggers.
OK, three things that make me and my blog unique:

1.  I like to change up the background for every holiday and season.  It probably drives some people crazy, but I'm goofy like that.  Sooo...get ready for the Christmas look soon!  Heehee.
2.  I like to share tidbits from my personal life in addition to my crafts.  For example, pictures of my new cat, the most recent post before this one.......sorry if that annoys anyone!
3.  I bring my goofy personality and "tude" into every post write up I do!  I really am this silly in real life!!  : )


OK, so the five people I would like to pass this on to are:

1.  Barb at Snowmanlover's Paperie
2.  Carrie at Greenbean's Crafterole
3.  Melissa at Melissa's Scrappen Place
4.  Jin at Under a Cherry Tree
5.  Marcia at Scrappin Times

Thanks again, Stacy, for thinking of me on this one!

Looking for some good advice, please!!!!

Well, here's the deal.  I have a lot of student loans, and some credit card debt, all from going back to grad school.  I had no debt and a good amount in savings before I went to grad school, and now, well.... Today I received a bill for my final student loan going into repayment, and it is not good.  Over the last few months, I have barely been able to meet my bills each month.  Now, with this new bill every month, my bills officially exceed my income by about $300.00. 

SO, does anyone have any great advice - loan consolidation is not being offered in the recession, so that's out!  If anyone has been through it, I would LOVE to hear your suggestions.  At this point, I basically need a miracle.  Anyone have one of those lying around??  LOL.  Ugh...