Flowered Hair Clips

I was intending on making my first video today and while I did, and made that Chore Chart along with it, I'm still editing so I will post what I did instead! I have NEVER tried to make any kind of accessory but when my daughter was born with a head full of hair I decided to give it a go. So here is my go :) I'm actually quite pleased with them since they are my first! I can totally see different designs for these! I can't wait to try more out! =)



Oh and here is my baby girl modeling them:

Sweet Treats party favor

Ok, I am having WAY too much fun with this cart! LOL I decided to try to make a party favor and came up with a pink girly one. Too cute! I think I can see this being used for a sleepover or a young girl's party! :)

Hello Kitty card

I have been having a bit of a "imaginative block" for the past few days so today I just took out a cart I hadn't used in forever and played around. I ended up with Hello Kitty Greetings and it reminded me how much I love this cart. So girly and cute. I came up with a card that I will probably end up giving to a friend or someone. :)

Turned Gypsy Secret Winner! :)

Last week I was informed that I was one ofTurned Gypsy'ssecret winner and I got my package today! Woohoo! I was so excited to see that it was a Papercrafting book! I love it! I cannot wait until I am able to make a project from here. I'll of course, post it up. :) Thank you so much for this wonderful gift! :)

Scrapbookaholic Challenge :)

I've been doing the whole "mommy" and student thing all day and was starting to get cranky so I decided to take a break and do a little blog hopping and ended up at Scrapbookaholic by Abby's blog and fell in love with her sketch and figured I might as well take a shot at her sketch layout. It is her first challenge and I can't wait to see what others come up with. I made a "Girl's Night" layout using my Stamp-a-bella that I received in November and haven't used yet! Talk about wasteful! =) Hope you enjoy :)

Ice Cream cone Card

I used Sweet Treats to make this awesome Ice Cream cone birthday card for my nephew today and completely fell in LOVE with this cart! Perfect for birthdays AND summer! Doesn't this ice cream cone look good enough to eat?? LOL. It is cut using the "Fit to Page" feature (which I believe is 11 1/4"),I used glitter paper for the layers and embossed the bottom of the ice cream cone with my swirly folder on my Cuttlebug. I should have taken a pic of the inside of the card BEFORE we signed it but it's nothing too personal so I'll go ahead and post it. :)

Mommy and Me layout

I went to Michael's today in search for some pink paper and saw that they had this awesome "handmade" paper pack on sale and couldn't pass it up. :) This layout was almost too easy, all I had to do was add on one flower (from the chipboard cutouts it came with), adhere the background to white cardstock and cut out Mommy and Me in Storybook font. I put them a little crooked because I didn't want it to be perfect, but such a cute layout for a wonderful picture I will add on of me and my daughter :)

Forever Young Purse

Ok- I am now officially ADDICTED to making anything 3D from the cartridges. LOL. While my husband watched a movie, I played with Forever Young and absolutely fell in love with it's purses. Now i'm just hoping that my daughter will grow up to be really girly so I can have an excuse to make them more often! :)

Sweet Treats Cupcake Holder

Today I got a little bored and decided I wanted to play around with the Sweet Treats cartridge and make a cupcake holder. I have some AWESOME ideas for this cart for my son's upcoming birthday and my sister in law's baby shower but for the heck of it, I quickly threw a batch of cupcakes in the oven and decided to just make a holder to see if I could even do it. It was a success. Especially with my son! LOL. Isn't he sooooooo cute??! :)) It's very simply decorated but i'm very confident I will be able to rock these out for his upcoming party!

Once Upon a Princess Handbook idea :)

My friend over at Kricut Krazy is giving the opportunity to guest design the ideas from certain cartridges that she doesn't have. I went ahead and made the Once Upon a Princess one just for her blog but think I'd like to show it off here too! :) This is my first 3-D project and i'm so excited by how simple it was! Hope you enjoy! :)

Cricut Cake Pink and Brown Apron giveaway!! :)) *UPDATED*

VIPCarrie is the winner through Random.org! Congrats! =) And thank you to those who entered :)

Sooooooo....I am SO excited I could just scream! A wonderful CC poster posted up that PC was going live from HQ on Justin.tv earlier and that they would be having giveaways. It was SO much fun! Anywas- I NEVER win anything!! Seriously. But I ended up winning the last giveaway for a Martha cart AND pink and brown Cricut cake apron!! WOOHOO!! Now, my win could be YOUR win too because i'm in a GIVING mood and I know a few of us couldn't log on! So what i'm going to do is giveaway the Apron I won!! Woohoo! So if you have wanted this apron for awhile and couldn't get your hands on one, here is your chance! :) All you have to do is leave me a comment (and a way to contact you if you win!). I will choose a winner on Friday and send it to you as soon as I receive it. :)

Good luck!!

Hot Dog! Layout :)

My son Brad, who is my youngest boy, had a breakthrough today and actually tried to sing along to the "Hot Dog" song! My son has never spoken a word in his life so the fact that he was attempting to sing a long with me and sat still through a reading of a book is amazing! I'm hoping that this is an avenue we can take with his therapies and hopefully get him ahead!

So I made this layout because this picture is so special to me and I had a blast making it. I love anything Disney (As do my kids) so whenever I can pull out my Disney paper and Mickey cartridges, I'm game! :)

I also tried a "first" for me and that was make a tag and pocket for my page. I have never tried this before so my brad's are a little off, but I think it looks good! LOL


The words "Hot Dog!" are cut at 1 1/2" from Mickey Font.
To make the Mickey Tag I welded a square from George and Basic Shapes to the bottom of Mickey Ears at 3". :)
The scallop is cut at 5" from Mini Monograms and the paper is all from the Mickey Mouse paper pad from Joann's. :)

Elmo Card.

I fell in love with this cart the first time I layed eyes on it and now that I finally got it, i'm beyond thrilled with it! I don't think I have ever loved a font as much as this one and you can't beat how cute the Sesame Street characters are!

I made this card as the "featured" project in the beginning of the handbook so it was not my idea but it's so freakin cute I couldn't pass it up! I have never done one of the handbook ideas but I'm so excited with how this one turned out, I might just have to try it out more often!

I hope my best friend Lisa's son LOVES it! :)

My Weight Loss Journey.

Since starting this blog, I have been asked by a few people on how I've managed to lose 58 pounds since having my daughter in January. To be honest with you, i've done a combination of things.

Counting calories.
Counting calories+working out
South Beach Diet

I had a c-section in January so obviously, I couldn't work out for awhile (and at 215 pounds before delivery, I didn't really want to). I started counting my calories and tried to cut 500 daily. If you want to lose between 1-2 pounds a week healthily, it is suggested you cut 3500 calories a week (which amounts to a pound). You can do this by lowering your calorie intake or upping your workouts. I managed to do this by keeping a detailed food journal in my kitchen and writing down every.single.calorie that went into my mouth. Including that starburst. :) This kept me accountable and also helped me see what I was truly eating and where I could make changes. To make things easier I also started eating Weight Watcher frozen meals for lunch and dinner (which are beneficial even if you don't count points because they tell you how many calories are in each one!). I am not one to get tired of repeatedly eating the same foods so this worked great for me and didn't keep me guessing how many calories I had eaten.

When I started my plateau at around 170-180 pounds, I decided to start working out again. I started by walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes then upping it to 45 minutes and so on. After I was comfortable with that, I added free weights and an exercise ball to tone. I had a tonsillectomy in April and that threw my workout motivation out the window so i'm slowly building it back up again. I also use my Wii fit and Jillian Michaels DVD to change it up a bit.

I hit another plateau at around 164-167 pounds so I decided to do what my in laws where doing and try South Beach. I'm normally not all about "fad" diets, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way. But I love meat and chicken and I'm ok with cutting out processed foods such as bread and all the sugar and flour. I managed to break through my plateau but be warned, I didn't follow it to a T so I didn't drastically lose 15 pounds the first 2 weeks. I think I ended up at about 5-6 pounds lost but hey, loss is loss. While I didn't follow all the veggie recommendations and all, it did show me how to really cut back on sweets and gave me the ability to be able to occasionally eat just 1 cookie and not the entire package. To this day, I still don't eat bread (if I order a burger I just eat the pattie with cheese) and I think that is why I've managed to continually lose weight.

One last thing...WATER! I know we have all heard how important water is to our diets and at first, I didn't believe it because i'm a Diet Coke addict. But I started cutting back on my Diet Coke and replacing it with water and I noticed the more water I drank, the more I lost. So it obviously works! LOL. I also realized that they now make Vitamin Water Zero which has been a blessing! :)

This is just a snippet of what I have been doing for the past 6 months but let me tell you, I know for a fact that I am not a doctor or nutritionist. I do what I do because I research a lot online and read a lot of books so I come up with my own conclusion. Please don't take this as me giving advice, just telling you what worked for me. :) Make sure you always ok things with your own doctor before you start anything! :)

**Bargain** butterfly layout :)

I went diaper shopping yesterday and while my usual stop is Walmart, I decided to take a detour to Target because I missed it oh,so much. While I was in there I waltzed into their scrapbook aisle and noticed they had a $.99 section full of stickers, stamps and paper :) I am obsessed with paper so I was excited to see they had patterned stacks for the same price (8 pages) so I went ahead and purchased one. I made this entire layout for what would come out to about $.25 since the pink glitter paper was in my scraps. Not too bad for a cheap page! :) (Please excuse the blurry pic)

*Butterfly cut from Hannah Montana cartridge*

Preschool layout.

I'm pretty biased because i'm their mom, but i'm pretty sure I have the cutest boys ever! LOL These pics were taken on their first day of preschool and I couldn't have been more proud. :) I always said, I desperately wanted a little girl but I was blessed and lucky enough to get 2 little boys first! Now I think I identify with them more! haha :)

Cousins Layout.

I recently purchased Jubilee on ebay for a GREAT deal and I was so excited to get it in the mail today! I had the cutest pic of my oldest son and my nephew that was taken last weekend and they were so excited because my dad was about to take them to McDonalds! :)


Supplies:
Jubilee (or any font cartridge)
George and Basic Shapes (or circle chipboard shape)*
12x12 patterned paper
8 1/2 x 7 1/2 different patterned paper (differnt pattern/same color family)
6 1/2 x 7 colored cardstock
4 1/4 x 6 1/4 photo mat (I used leftover from my 8 1/2 sheet)
2" border for the bottom
Red boxes cut out at 2"
Letters inside boxes cut out at 1" (I used Jubilee)
Glossy accents to outline the chipboard. (I ran out..hehe ;)

*I used George and Basic Shapes to cut out 3 circles at 2" for my embellishments. I used the back of a cereal box to do so.
Blade Depth=6
Pressure= Max
MultiCut=3

American Girl crafts :)

Growing up I was so obsessed with my American Girl doll that I could not wait to have a little girl to share my love of AG with. When I first found out I was pregnant with my baby girl at 8 weeks I loaded up my boys (and my dad who always likes to help me out! lol) and while my DH was at work, headed off to the American Girl store. I just *knew* this one was going to be a girl, even choosing to name her Julie, in part, because there was an American Girl doll with that name. (That is not the ONLY reason but a big one!) Call me crazy, or silly but that is my story about her name LOL. When we found out she was definitely a girl (after having been told it was a boy) I cried and could not wait until she was big enough to start scrapbooking and "Crafting" with me.

I went into Michael's a few weeks ago and noticed that they have an American Girl crafts section and I think I was more excited that anyone to find it! I immediately started stocking up on their sale items and have come up with this loot so far. Nothing huge for the time being but yes, this is all stuff I am saving for my little girl so she can have her own supplies. (And wont go digging into mommy's.) My husband thought it was so cute and I can't wait until she's big enough for me to give them to her! :))

Cricut Circle!

Woohoo! My package arrived today! I'm so excited! :)) I have some ideas for that Eiffel Tower... ;)

Sugars layout.

My husband and I call our youngest 'Sugars' and I was trying to come up with a cute layout that would incorporate her nickname. I had also purchased some Pearls at Michaels that I had been dying to use! The patterned paper I used for the background was purchased at Hobby Lobby (single page) in the baby scrapbook section. It says all kinds of little baby nicknames like Daddy's little girl..etc. It is SO cute!




Material:
12x12 patterned paper with baby girl sayings
9 1/2 x 8 1/2 white cardstock
2 4x6 photo mats cut from brown and pink cardstock
pink and brown ribbon
6 3D pearls for bottom and top of photo mats :)
"Our Sugars" cut out from Jasmine font at 2"

BFF Card.

My BFF lives in Southern California (which is were I grew up) and she and I like to send each other cards and letters just to always stay in touch. :) I am so tired tonight so I will post directions for it tomorrow! Hope you like it! =)

My Creative Time Challenge :)

This is the first challenge I have ever "entered" and I must say, I had fun doing it! =) I designed a baby tag for my sister in law's baby shower gift. Lately, I have really enjoyed playing with my gypsy and learning all about it's creative features. :)

Simple learning layout.

My two oldest sons, who are 4 and 5, have autism. It is something that I don't think any parent is ever prepared to go through or envisions their child having but God has BLESSED me with two of the most amazing little boys on the face of the Earth. (I'm a little biased cause I'm their mom! hehe ;) They have both been attending all day classes at our local elementary school and have come so far in a little less than a year. My oldest son Jake didn't know how to form sentences this time last summer but now you can't get him to be quiet! lol. And i'm fine with that because I never thought I would hear him talk! =) My youngest son Brad (who I will feature in a layout sometime this week) still doesn't talk, but his eye contact is improving and he said his little sister's name a few days ago! Believe me, it's the little things that count! =)

Anyways, I have been working with my oldest son on writing his alphabet and making sure he doesn't forget what he's learned and I took pics of him learning how to write 'A' and trying to color in the lines. We still have a way to go but he did it!

For this simple layout I used the "All about Boys" paper stack for the patterned paper and ripped yellow and red cardstock for "semi" borders. I then inked the edges and used Plantin School book for the title. (Oh and the little notebook page is from Locker Talk cut at 3") Not complicated but I think it gets the job done. :)

Michael's Coupon.

Michael's 50% off Regular Priced Item. Valid through Sat, July 10.
Click here for Michael's coupon!

Hope you enjoy =)

What a day. =)

First off, SUPER excited that Germany won today! We live and breathe soccer when the World Cup comes around every 4 years so this is fun for us! :)

Today we went to my SIL's house to celebrate her mom's 50th birthday. My sister in law just recently got an Expressions machine and we got to show her SIL (lol) what it was and how it cuts. She also has quite a nice cart collection for only having had the machine for about a month! lol. I showed her a few tips she could use and hopefully she found them helpful, which got me thinking that maybe i'll start a Cricut for newbies tab and give some advice :) I'm by no means an "expert" and I know that there are a thousand blogs who do this but maybe i'll add my two cents in. Atleast, to help my sister in law out. :) She is so excited about it and I love that I now have someone I can share this excitement with who is family! My husband was so cute too, looking through her carts and getting all into it. haha. :) I sometimes think he is kinda proud of my hobby. Awww...i'm now bragging. ;)

I hope everyone has a great night and wonderful and safe 4th of July! =)

Quick Birthday Card.

My sister in law invited us to a small dinner she is throwing for her mother's 50th birthday tomorrow night so I didn't have too much time to throw something together...especially since hubby and I might be going out to dinner later. :) Anyways, I "sorta" scraplifted the sketch of the card layout but everything is my own. I'm still VERY new to card making but so far they have been a hit and even though this is simple, I love this card! It's so girly and cute. :)
To make:
Patterned paper adhered to a blank card
Cut out the Bday Cupcake from Once Upon a Princess Cartridge
Layed it out on my mat (I used my gypsy so I could just lay out the colors at once)
and cut!
I used Stickles for the dots on the cupcake and chalked the edges with pink.
The stamp is the Happy Birthday stamp from Stampin Bella. =)
Hope you like it!

Little Mermaid Layout/ Blog giveaway ;)

I have a slight obsession with Disney. Really who doesn't? So when I went to Joanne's earlier this week they had all their paper on sale for 40% off and I could not resist all the awesome Disney paper I didn't have. Needless to say, when I was paying and realized I forgot a designer paper pack and decided to go back to get it, the cashier was surprised I didn't get more Disney stuff. LOL. I had a few pics from when we first tried out our above ground pool so decided just to throw a simple layout together. Obviously, we are not really under the sea, but I truly miss being back home in Southern California and for now, this is the sea we have! =)

Oh and I did make the bubble border for the pics. This is the first time I have actually designed anything on the Gypsy (usually I just use it to make my cutting easier) so I hope I didn't do too bad! =)

P.S. I have decided to have a giveaway once my blog reaches 100 followers. I haven't decided just what yet, but if your anything like me, you'll like it! Promise! =)