Meet Me on Monday #55

Happy Monday Everyone!! Hope you are having a very Happy Halloween too. It's time for another Meet Me on Monday over at nevergrowingold.blogspot.com. This is just a fun way for all of us bloggers to get to know each other. Hop on over and join in. 


Questions:


1.  My current weather is _______?
It's 37 degrees, sunny. I think Mother Nature forgot to pay her heating bill
2.  What is your favorite sound? 
It's a tie between a child's laugh and the ocean lapping against the shore

3.  What is the worst flavor of ice cream? 
Pistachio!! Why? Why would anyone make an ice cream taste like that!

4.  What magazine do you look for when you are stuck in the waiting room? 
Ever since I got my iPhone, none. I have all the reading material I need, and Words with Friends!
5.  What is your favorite condiment? 
I'm going to have to agree with Java on this on and say Ranch dressing, ketchup would be a close second. Ranch is so versatile and can go on almost anything. Fries, yup. Chicken, yup. I even put just a bit in my spaghetti...mmmm!!


Thanks for stopping by!! 

Urge to Purge Day #2.5

Happy Frosty Saturday,

Well Mother Nature had other plans for my weekend. I was suppose to go to Baltimore and hang out with a dear friend, but it's been snowing pretty much all day. Here's a peek from around lunchtime:

So after adding winter blankets onto the beds, pulling out a few space heaters, throwing on a sweater and some comfy socks I decided to head down to the scrap cave and continue purging. I decided to was time to go through my embellishment drawer and pull out all of the things that I've had FOREVER and know that I will not use. About 5 years ago I ordered this kit from a catalog service and was really unhappy with the products. I figured I would use them eventually and haven't. I decided to pull everything out and put it in a pile to donate to Miss A's Boys and Girls Club. They have an art room and I'm sure they will love the donation.






This pile contains stickers galore, a bunch of premade frames, a bunch of 12 x 1 border paper, die cuts, etc. I'm going to take it over there on Monday, when I pick her up. If you are not familiar with the Boys and Girls club, check out their website here. I can't say enough good things about the club Miss A is part of. They pick her up from school, help with homework, have a weekly "girl talk" with the 8-12 year old girls. Many of the people that work there, went there as children. I hope they like the donation.

After I finished with the embellishment drawer, I decided to tackle the Apple Cider packages that I picked up at The Dollar Tree. I saw My Pink Stamper's youtube video a while back and knew that I wanted to make these at some point. So when I saw them at store, I picked them up without hesitation.

I wanted to make some "treats" for my family for Thanksgiving. These aren't quite finished yet, because my Cricut decided it was time for new blades and has been shredding everything. So I did as much as I could without it. I'm not going to list any measurements, watch Robyn's video. For the base I used a copper colored cardstock, the mat is from a stack I bought last winter at Micheal's called "Throughout the Year". I think it's by Karen Foster Designs. I love the autumn feel the paper gives. I stamped "So Grateful" at the bottom using Just Wordz stamps because even if we don't always get along, I am so grateful to have the family that I have. Once I get some replacement blades, I plan to add a pumpkin or other Thanksgiving-ish image to the front. :-)

I will also be listing a set of 8 on my Etsy shop, if you want to bypass all the "hard" work and have some apple cider sliders for your family/guest.

The package

With cider pulled out

Finished Product

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to stop by June's blog (the original Urge to Purge poster) to check out her progress. I'm linking this up at You Had Me at Craft: Made It Myself Monday





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Urge to Purge Day #1

Good Evening Bloggers,

A good crafty friend (and inspiration) is tacking her craft room in one of her purges. She's invited everyone to join in and get organized, check it out here. I've been meaning to tackle this scrap paper pile for some time now.  I sat down and went through every piece. Anything that was too small (less than 2 inches on any side) was thrown into the recycling bin. I then sorted by color family. All of the pattern paper scraps went back into their respected stacks (easy to find them that way). I'm happy to say that I put everything that I kept into an accordion folder for easy grabbing.




This past weekend, I also ended up buying a new table for the cave. I just didn't have enough space to spread out and felt like I was always under something. I mean when you lose your ATG gun on your craft table, something is wrong right? So I moved some things around and this is what I've come up with:




All the way to left is my old table. I'm using this table now for my rotary cutter, larger finished projects, and where all of my magazines/books are. Underneath is my heat source for when winter comes and two bins of yarn, a bin of craft paint, and random other bins. Between the two tables is my rolling 12x12 bin that I got oh so many years ago at Target. LOVE IT. I have my mat stacks on top of this and all my embellishments inside the different drawers. Then there's my new table, still piled with stuff. And finally my Cricut station. Underneath the new table is all of the loose paper I have sorted into Cropper Hopper bins. I'm in the market for new paper storage as this isn't the best way to store my paper, I've found.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and don't forget to go check out June's blog to see what she's been up to in her crafty space.

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ENABLER ALERT - 2 Cricut Carts for only 29.99

Sorry, I have to post!

For the next 48 hours, if you go to http://www.cricutmachine.com you can get two Cricut Carts for only $29.99. I've never personally ordered from this site, so I can not speak to customer service or shipping, etc. There is a select list of carts, but there are quite a few of the Disney carts on the list.

Congrats cards

Two quick cards tonight.

Card #1 - A really good friend of mine is in nursing school. She recently was awarded the Top Nursing student in all of West Virginia!!! If that's not reason for a special card, I don't know what is.




I used Locker Talk for the card. Cut at 4.25. The layers were cut at 1.75. I kept this card simple since it is going in the mail. The sentiment is stamped using Just Wordz sentiments.

Card #2 - A coworker recently was accepted onto a new contact doing some pretty special work. Unfortunately I can't tell you what that work is, but trust me it's a BIG deal. She will still be with our company just Not in our office. She's moving to DC, and we are all going to miss her bubbliness. I wanted to let her know, even though she didn't work directly with us, we all wish her well.




Over the weekend, I found A Child's Year on clearance at my local Walmart. So I picked it up. Everything is on this card is cut from the cartridge. The card base is cut at 6 inches (since it will not be in an envelope), the mat is cut at 5.75 (I recut the card and trimmed the top off). The oval is cut at 4 inches. The rose is cut at 2.5. I inked all the edges with brown ink. The paper is DCWV Mediterranean Cafe. The sentiment is stamped with the same Just Wordz set. If you haven't checked them out, do so. They stamp wonderfully and the words line up spaced perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by.

Challenges Entered:
Wee Memories

Stay crafty.

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Meet Me on Monday #54

Questions:

1.  My favorite kind of animal is _______?


I am by far the biggest dog lover. Do I personally have one at the moment, no. I have a cat, that we just adopted from the shelter about a month ago.

2.  Do you like your handwriting?


Actually, I do. It's a mixed between print and cursive and a little artistic

3.  What is the last movie you saw?


In theater? That would have been Killer Elite

4.  Do you buy things on eBay?


No, I haven't gotten into Ebay


5.  What did you have for lunch yesterday?


I had a Totino's Party Pizza. Sundays are crazy days at my house with chores, errands, etc. So it's usually something quick.


Head on over to Never Growing Old's blog and hook up with others to share a little about yourself.

Cupcakes

So in an attempt to be even more crafty, I decided I would make Miss A's birthday cake out of cupcakes in the shape of a bowling pin and ball. Here's how it turned out. I think I should stick to paper crafting!! LOL

Snowmaggedon Layout

This evening I was able to complete a layout. I'm part of a group that challenges each other to do scrappy stuff. I was challenged to create a winter layout using only winter colors, 2 photos, 4 brads, a journaling pocket, a 1 inch title, and either glitter or Stickles. Here's what I came up with:










This layout is about the winter snow storms we had through the winter of 09-10. Here in Philadelphia we got a total of 67 inches of snow over the course of 4 storms. Definitely something worthy of scrapping.

Details:
Title was cut at 1 inch (real dial size) using Don Juan Cricut cartridge, the snowflakes were cut at 1.5 inches.
I hand cut the journaling card and used my corner rounder for the "tab"
The pattern paper is cut at 10 x 10 and the top corners have been rounded.
I inked around all the edges with a brown stamp pad (wish I had a blue one, but we all know snow in the city is usually brown or black after a day)
I used the following sketch from PageMaps as inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by and checking it out.

Challenges Entered:
Paper Issues - Snow Day

Stay crafty

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Meet Me on Monday #53

Questions:

1.  The thing that scares me the most is __________?
I know this may sound a little cheesy, but I'm terrified of being alone. Not alone like for a couple of hours or a couple of days. But getting old and being alone. No one there to be with. No one to end my time on Earth with. Even with all the people that I know and that I consider friends, that's what scares me the most.
2.  Do you like nuts in your Chocolate Chip cookies?
Sometimes, but I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies anyway.
3.  If you couldn't change the channel, what tv show would drive you from the room?
I get sucked into so many shows that are truly awful, but I think I would have to leave if The Martha Stewart show was on. Now don't get me wrong, the woman is a creative mastermind and I love her stuff, but shouldn't someone have tested her personality. It's like watching paint dry on a rainy day.
4.  Pulp or no pulp in your Orange Juice?
No pulp. I don't want to eat what I'm drinking. Personally, I hardly ever drink OJ. It upsets my stomach really bad, too acidic. I prefer a nice ice cold glass of Apple Juice, Iced Tea, or Lemonade.
5.  Who do you miss the most?
The days of simplicity. You know those days when the most you had to worry about was what you were going to wear to school and how you should style your hair. Be responsible for a house, bills, job, etc just takes a lot out of you. To be free of all the cares in the world for just a little while, that's what I miss.

Link up The Love Party - Halloween Sour Cream Containers

So a while back, while I was looking for wedding favors, I stumbled upon a YouTube video (this isn't the exact one, but hey it works) showing how to make sour cream containers. While I didn't do anything with the idea at the time, it's been in the back of my mind. So I decided to give it a go with some Halloween favors.

Here's the goodies for the inside, some caramels, tootsie rolls, smarties, and some gum:













I bought these stamps last weekend at ScrapThat!, which a local scrapbooking store that I go to for crops. I don't remember the company. I cut a 2.25 circle and scallop circle to make the tags. I don't plan on handing these out the kiddos, but a friend is having a party so I might just take them over there. Thanks for stopping by.





I'll be linking this up at Made it Myself Monday, Link Up the Love Party by K. Andrew, More Than Favors, Decorate to Celebrate, Inking it Up, Crafty Sprouts

Here are the rules for the Link Up the Love Party:

Link Up Love Party: How it Works

• Link Up Party runs from Tuesday 10/18 to Tuesday 10/25.
• Grab the Getting Cricky blinky and post on your blog's sidebar
• Be a follower of Getting Cricky
• Create a new blog post that is titled Link Up Love Party with K Andrew. In your post, you must mention that the link up love party is a way to get to know each other and find new blog inspiration, mention my blog, with a link back to Getting Cricky
• Post your favorite project that you've done in your blog for HALLOWEEN
• Copy and paste the link up code into your blog post so the Inlinkz will show up on your blog
• Spread the word so everyone can join in!
• You must visit, follow, and comment on the 5 people before you AND the 5 people after you in the Inlinkz. It would be fantastic if you would visit as many as you can--maybe everyone? If you are one of the first 5 then you will need to blog the ones before you and a few more after--as long as it's a minimum of 10 near you in the link up
• If you do not do the above your link will be deleted, because it's just not fair to those who work so hard linking up and showing love to the ones on the list. I have two moderators who will be checking this out to keep it awesome and fun!

Stay Crafty

Scrappy Saturday

Good Evening,

I spent quite a few hours down in the scrap cave attempting to knock out a special order for a coworker. I was able to get a few layouts done for her grandson's baby book. He won't be here until sometime around the beginning of December, but I have another book that needs to be done about the same time.

Here are some photos (ok a lot of photos)

































Thanks for stopping by, stay crafty.

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Rock Star Birthday

A coworker asked if I would help her out and make a special card for her Goddaughter. She's turning 9 and will be getting a guitar for her birthday. I pretty much knew immediately what I would make. After dinner, I went down to the scrap cave and pulled out the Once Upon a Princess cartridge and used the "Rocker" image.




Details:

• Standard A2 size card (4.25 x 5.5)
• Pinkish mat is cut an 1/8th smaller than the card and the polka dot mat is cut an 1/8th smaller than the pink mat (sorry, wasn't really paying attention to the actual size.
• I cut my little rocker at 4 inches on all layers. I added some pearls around her neck and rhinestones to her ears and belt. I should really invest in some stamps for faces, until then I'll just drew them in
• I cut the Rock Star at 2 inches on both layers

Thanks for stopping by!

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Witchin You A Happy Birthday

Good Morning Everyone,

I had some time to get down into the scrap cave last night. After a little bit of organizing, I sat down to make a card for a coworker. Her mother's birthday is on Halloween and she always sends her a card, so she asked if I would make one. It's not quite done yet, because I need to get on the home computer and print off the sentiment, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Details:
5 x 7 card in black cardstock
Orange mat is 4 7/8 x 6 7/8
Striped mat is 4.75 x 6.75 and from the K&Co Halloween stack
Green mat is 2.5 x 4.75 and from the K&Co Halloween stack and punched with MS Drippy Goo punch
Purple mat is 3 x 4.75 and from the K&Co Halloween stack
The witch is cut from the Oct 31st cartridge at 2.75 and the yellow moon is cut at 3 from George & Basic Shapes

I'm going to add the sentiment on the right in that void. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek. Come back soon!

Stay Crafty

Crafty Friends

Hey everyone,

Today has been super busy. I had an appointment with a new GI today. It went so much better than my old doctor. I think this medical relationship will work out much better for everyone involved. I swung by Micheal's today. I made up for all the non-shopping I've been doing. Picked up quite a few things:

Pink Ott-Lite (On sale for $20)
MS Drippy Goo punch (On sale for 40% off)
Paper
Adhesive
Pop-dots
Wiggly Eyes (I'm hooked now!!)
...and I can't remember what else

I love watching other people get the crafty bug. A dear friend of  mine had her 3 child back in February. It was her first girl. She started making bows a few months back and has really gotten into the swing of things. Please go check out her Facebook page, The Fancy Olive. If you like the page, you can get 10% off your order. Let her know that Natasha sent you. Not that I get any special credit or kudos. I just want her to know that I support her endeavor and am wishing her the best of luck!!

Stay Crafty

Meet Me on Monday

Happy Monday morning! It's time for another edition of MMOM. To play along and get to know other blog friends, head over to Never Growing Old and grab the button and questions. Then link up!

Questions:

1. The best part of waking up each day is __________?
Knowing that it is a new day. The worries of yesterday are gone. Sometimes it's harder to let go, but I know that I should be grateful for another day.

2. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Many people think I am in my early to mid-20s. I could handle that for a couple more years.

3. Red or Green Apples?
I love green apples. Red apples don't have enough taste for me

4. Do you forgive easily?
Sometimes too easily. However, I've been known to keep a grudge about things too

5. If you could live in any home on a television series, which would it be?
I always wanted to live in a house like the Cosby's.

Birthday Invites

Good Evening Bloggers,

I came home this evening to a package from a very gracious blogger friend who cut me a couple of images from the Nifty Fifties cartridge. Miss A is having a bowling party in a few weeks and I wanted to give my try at making a whole themed party.

Here's the invitation:









The party is going have laser lights and glowing pins, so I thought the background paper picked up that vibe. I pulled the colors from there too. These are standard A2 size invites. The background mat is 4 inches by 5.25 inches. The colored mats are 3 by 4 and punched with the Threading Water punch. I used a stamp that I got from Michael's.

I haven't finished the treat bags, but here is a preview.





I'm going to add a black circle (bowling ball) with white accents to the spot on the left. And of course more goodies. Right now there are glow bracelets and Laffy Taffy.






I'll post again when I get more done. The party is on the 22nd, so I have a little bit of time for the rest of the items.

Update: here's a layout for the party





Close ups:







Stay crafty!

I'm entering this into the challenge over at Decorate to Celebrate - #10 Teens and Tweens

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I wanted to honor the celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month. So I went down in the cave for a quick card.









This is an unconventional 6x6 card. I cut two mats, the pink one at 5.75x5.75 and the white at 5.5x5.5. I embossed the white mat using the Divine Swirls cuttle bug folder. I cut the ribbon from Stand and Salute at 5 inches and embossed it with Spots and Dots. I added a pink ribbon and bow to separate and break up the mats. I stamped the sentiment using Just Wordz Everyday Sentiments.

If you know someone who is or has suffered through this terrible disease, celebrate them. Collect pink lids, walk to raise money, offer to cook dinner for their family. There are many, many ways you can help.

Stay crafty!!

Linking this project up at:
madebymomo.blogspot.com
morethanfavors.blogspot.com
celebratetheoccassion.blogspot.com
http://www.cookingwithcricut.com/2011/10/challenge-54-anything-goes.html
http://cardztv.blogspot.com/2011/10/cricut-cardz-challenge-93.html
http://handstampedsentiments.blogspot.com/



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Meet Me on Monday #51

For a while I thought I was going crazy and just missing the weekly posts over at nevergrowingold.blogspot.com. But Java is back and doing her "Meet Me on Monday" posts again. I love sharing parts of me with everyone, so here are this week's questions and my answers. If you'd like to get involved, just head over to her blog, grab the button and create a post answering the questions.

Questions:

1.  I can't stand when someone ________?
     I can't stand when someone is late. If you don't manage your time well, then don't tell me specifically when you will be somewhere. If you're on time, your late. If you're 10 mins early, you're on time.
2.  Do you do daily, weekly or monthly grocery shopping?
     I shop when I need something. I usually do one or two really big trips with several mini trips in between. We're always out of something.
3.  What kind of car do you drive?
     I miss my Honda Accord, but I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a VW Jetta after my Accord was stolen a second time and totaled.
4.  Crunchy or soft tacos?
     Soft, all the way. I always crunch up the hard ones and make nachos.
5.  What's the habit you are proudest of breaking?
     Most definitely smoking. I think the prices going up also helped, but I feel so much better now.

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

Good morning and welcome to the Trick or Treat blog hop. You are in for some delightfully fun projects and perhaps some blog candy along the way. If you arrived here from Crystal's blog, you are on the right track. If this is your first stop, start back at Angie's blog to get the whole line-up. Be sure to comment on all the blogs today for a chance to win some candy!! Here's today's lineup:

Blog Hop Line Up:
(1) Angie: TuttleTime, http://atuttletime.blogspot.com/ 
(2) Sarah: Simply Sarah, http://simplyshaddock.blogspot.com/
(3) Crystal: Rustic Daisy, http://rusticdaisy.blogspot.com/
(4) Natasha: Crafting With Natasha, http://craftingwithnatasha.blogspot.com/ (You are here)
(5) Angela: Creative Craftin, http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com/ 
(6) Monica: Scraps 2 Treasure, http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
(7) Elaine: Expressions by Elaine, http://ExpressionsByElaine.blogspot.com/
(8) Mary: Mare Bear Scraps, http://marebearscraps.blogspot.com/
(9) Wendy: http://gilbyscraftster.blogspot.com/
(10) Shar: http://scrapendipity.blogspot.com/


Now on to the project(s). We were challenged to come up with some fun, quick, and simple Trick-or-Treat projects or cards. I was having a serious case of crafter's block when I sat down to make my project. I had a ton of ideas and then I got sick. :-(
Those who have been following along for a while know how that goes. Anyway I have 3 cards for you today. All of the cards were made with a K&Company Glitter Stack I found on clearance last year. The card bases are a standard A2 size in black. All the cuts were made using the Oct 31st Solutions cartridge for the Cricut. I hope you enjoy!

Happy Halloween.

























I think I should take photos of my projects at work more often, these are bright and cheery!! Here's a group shot.






Linking these up at:http://paperissues.blogspot.com/2011/10/31-days-of-halloween.html