Cards 15 and 16

I chose to do an all white embossed look for card number 15. I think it is a very classy look. Would be great for wedding or sympathy cards. I stamped "Happy for you" on the inside of this one.

Card 16 is my first Valentine card of this year. I don't know why, but I never end up liking how my Valentines turn out. They always look so plain to me. Maybe it has something to do my resentment for love and relationships at this point in my life. Haha! I love the tree (Stampin Up's Branch Out set) with the falling hearts but I couldn't figure out what else to do with the card. The inside is stamped with "Happy Love Day".

I am now officially halfway through my 31 cards in 31 days goal and still going strong. I'm now trying to decide if I should keep up the momentum and do the same goal in February or try and come up with a new goal.

Cards 12, 13 ,14 and then some....

Got out some old Chatterbox paper packs from a couple of years ago for cards 12 and 13 of my 31 cards in 31 days goal. I forgot how much I loved Chatterbox! For card number 14, I used the "Cheep Talk" stamp set that I love, love, love.

My niece, Ariel, had a birthday yesterday. I decided to try etching on a fish bowl which was a real pain in the butt but turned out really good. I used the Wishblade to cut the words "Here Fishy Fishy..." on vinyl and then used the negative as my etching stencil.

Now I just need to get to the pet store to get her the perfect fish!

Three birthday cards...

This weekend was rather productive. Besides putting on Winter Homecoming at the high school on Friday night, I managed to take down all the Christmas decorations and finished card numbers 9, 10 and 11 in my 31 cards in 31 days goal. My niece, my brother and my daughter's BFF all have birthdays in the next two weeks. I decided to get a jump start and finish birthday cards for them so I have no excuse not to get them in the mail.

Hope everyone has a great week!

I'm on a roll...

Day 3 of my January goal and I completed two more cards using the Cottage Walls DSP from Stampin Up. I think I'm going to have to switch paper paper packs because I have only used one sheet of each of the designs and have completed 8 cards. I still have half a pack of paper left. I need a change in scenery. I love, love, love the Cherry Blossom sizzlits die I used on the olive colored card.

It's a blistering 10 degrees today in Kansas with a wind chill of -15 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be as bad or worse. Not much to do but stay inside and watch some football. Normally, I'm not a Texas football fan but tonight I am! I hope they clobber 'Bama for the National Title. : )

Day 2....Baby steps!

Officially on day two of my "Julie" blogging goal. I completed two cards before 8am this morning. That's six cards in the last two days and I do believe that more than I have made in the last six months! Jump back!

I am still using the Cottage Walls paper pack from Stampin Up. I love the colors in that pack. I used the Stampin Up "Best Blossoms" stamp set on one card. I had literally packed that set in a box to sell and as I was flipping through my stamp image book, I had an epiphany. I think I will hang on it to it a little longer. I also used the Martha Stewart Button punch for that one. The other card, I used one of my Stampin Up hostess sets from last years catalog called "A Little Somethin Somethin". I had never used it before and I have had it almost a year. Story of my life. :-)

I have come to the conclusion that it is all about time management. 30 minutes really isn't that much out of my day to exercise. Another hour isn't too much to work on papercraft projects. Considering how much time I used to waste in a day playing FARKLE and BEJEWELED on Facebook. Believe me, folks, I don't miss it! I'm accomplishing something and feeling better about myself already. Try it something new, you'll love it!

My Julie Powell Inspiration

Having watched "Julie & Julia" over the New Year's weekend, I was inspired by the character, Julie Powell. If you have not seen it, Julie pledges to cook 564 recipes from the Julia Child's cookbok, Mastering the Art of French Cuisine, in 365 days. She blogged every day about the recipes she made. It is a true story and a cute movie.

As you may have not noticed, I have NOT blogged for some time and I have no good excuse for it. I am going to try a new year of blogging with new projects so I can hopefully keep my creative mojo ticking.

I wanted to do a Julie Powell goal and make one card for each of the 365 days this year. I know me, and that's a lot of pressure. I decided to shorten the goal to 1 card for each of the 31 days in January. That's more me. Start small and work my way up.

Today is January the 4th so I finished four cards. That is a huge step for me since my creative side has been on strike for the last several months. Julie at Xyron will be happy that I am trying to create again. I think she officially gave up on me. : )

Hope everyone's new year is starting out good!

Game Day!

It's customary for the home team cheerleaders to provide the visiting cheerleaders with a hospitality gift before the game.  It is usually always a bottle of water and a candy bar or snack.  Just a nice little "Welcome to our school" gift.  I enjoy coming up with different ways to present the gifts.  Here's the one I came up with for tonight's game.  The visiting team's school colors are red and white.

 I used the "It's a Cheer Thing" stamp set from Stampin Up and colored using Copic markers.  The tags were cut out using  Nestabilites by Spellbinders.  

Back to School

It's that time of  year again.  I can't believe that summer is already over but I am ready to get back into a routine again and to get back to organized sports!  I love Friday night football so I am excited it will be here in a few short weeks.  My youngest daughter is now in middle school so I am officially out of the elementary school system.  No more class parties or Valentine's.  Sniff, Sniff.  Makes me kind of sad.  

In honor of back to school, I made little paper backpacks for each one of my cheerleaders as little gift from the coaches (Coach Nave and I).  I got the pattern from Splitcoast Stampers website here.  The pocket on the front is really too small for anything so we folded up a little message with this quote:

"Always be a first rate version of yourself rather than a second rate version of someone else."

The girls loved them and I, of course, enjoyed making them.  

We also had a cheerleader come in to help out this week that was on our squad last year.  She graduated this past year and is now cheering at a nearby community college.  She was a lot of help so I made this Hershey's Nugget box for her.  Thanks Amber!

  

Sneak Peek: Xyron CREATOPIA Yay!!!!

I am so excited to finally get to talk about the new Creatopia, Xyron's newest product to be in stores in the next couple months.  (Click on each image for a larger view)

Xyron Press Release:

Scottsdale, AZ – July 18, 2009 – Xyron® Revolutionizes the Craft Industry, Again, with Creatopia™ Announcing the Xyron Creatopia; this creative machine will apply adhesive and laminate to items up to 12 inches wide and .5 inches thick. It will also allow you to emboss and cut paper and other thin materials. The Xyron Creatopia will change the way you think about craft projects. Modular components allow this machine to expand on Xyron's core adhesive tools by adding embossing and manual cutting in one machine. Embossing will be in the form of 12 inch wide pattern rollers and 3 inch wide patterns for borders. Creatopia will cut strips of paper and finish edges using a variety of interchangeable blade cartridges, Xyron will also introduce the first 6.5 inch wide universal die press for use with the industry's leading brands of dies. Creatopia will also be the first in the Xyron line to have a Fabric Adhesive cartridge.  

Creatopia Refillz™ Creatopia will offer three adhesive cartridges and one laminate cartridge at launch. The standard Permanent Adhesive and Repositionable Adhesive will be joined by a Fabric Adhesive. The Fabric Adhesive adheres textiles to the surfaces of your projects with optimal adhesion. The end user can use the Fabric adhesive to hold appliqués and batting/backing in place instead of pinning items; it will remain repositionable on fabric and is washable. Creatopia allows the end user to apply these adhesives to items up to 12 inches wide and 40 feet long with a thickness up to .5 inches. The Two-Sided Laminate cartridge will allow the end user to apply laminate to items up to 12 inches wide and 40 feet long. 

Creatopia Patternz™

Creatopia introduces the industry's first 12 inch wide embossing roller. These rollers will apply a uniform pattern into paper and thin materials up to 12 inches wide with an unlimited length. There will also be 3 inch wide border patterns to emboss only the edge or strip of thin materials.

Creatopia Cutz™

Creatopia allows the end user to cut in a variety of ways with a rotary cutting component. This component has interchangeable blade cartridges with a variety of styles including: straight, perforated, scoring, pinking, scalloped, deckle and postage stamp. These cartridges can be placed anywhere along the 12 inch cutting surface to cut rectangles, squares and strips from paper up to 12 inches wide with an unlimited length. Up to 6 blades can be used at one time to increase the end user's productivity.

Creatopia Shapez™

Creatopia's 6 inch wide universal die press will allow end users to cut and emboss using dies and embossing folders from Cuttlebug, CuttleKids, Quickutz, Sizzix, Ellison, AccuCut, Spellbinders, BossKut and Fiskars. 

Pricing and Availability Xyron Creatopia will be available for purchase in September 2009 from local craft stores, mass craft chain stores and online retailers.  

The Main Unit with Permanent Refillz Cartridge MSRP is $149.99. 

Additional Adhesive and Laminate Refillz MSRP are $39.99.  

Border Patternz Starter Kit with Floral Pattern MSRP is $24.99 Additional Border Patternz MSRP are $8.99 12 inch Patternz MSRP are $24.99 

Cutz Starter Kit with Straight Blade and Guide Wheel MSRP is $44.99

Additional 2 Packs of Cutz blades MSRP are $14.99

Xyron Shapez MSRP is $69.99 

Learn More About Creatopia For additional information on Xyron Creatopia, contact Chris Potter, or visit www.xyron.com. Xyron and Creatopia are registered trademarks of Xyron, Inc. Xyron is a subsidiary of Esselte (www.esselte.com). About Xyron Founded in 1996 in Scottsdale, Arizona, Xyron is a world-class provider of transformation tools for both creative home users and creative professionals. For the creative home user, Xyron develops products in the craft, hobby and stationery departments of specialty and mass retailers worldwide. These products include award-winning adhesive tools, all-inclusive scrapbooking collections, unique handheld dispensers, and patented cold-lamination products that require no heat, batteries or electricity.

Oh my heck!

Today I dropped $15 on one of my favorite card making publications, Card Creations.  This one is put out by Paper Crafts magazine a few times a year and I got volume 7 today.  I open the front cover and to my complete surprise was the Xyron ad featuring my cards and card box.  They didn't even tell me it would be in one of my all time favorite publications!  YAY!

I'm hoping all my readers had a very safe and happy Fourth.  I had to help my cheerleaders with their fireworks stand and got sunburned at a baseball game yesterday.  Saw an old friend both Friday night and Saturday night so I had a pretty great holiday weekend. 

Both my girls will be in Boston all week so I will try to get those pics posted of the few projects I have finished.  They are super cute.