Sweet Land of Liberty!

I love Americana stuff and also love to decorate with the Americana theme throughout the house, especially in our guest bedroom. So over the weekend I was looking over on the Fancy Pants blog and saw that they announced a weekly, "Fancy Friday"challenge to create something using their products with the theme of "Celebrating the U.S.A.", perfect! I love Fancy Pants and I love Americana! I've been wanting to make something artsy... with paper-piecing and such with this very theme for awhile now - a piece of my own art to add to my home decor. Yep, it was perfect timing. So, I got out all of Fancy Pants products, my trusty Cricut and some other needed materials, holed myself up in my room and set off to play. I had so much fun creating this framed wall hanging, so I hope you don't mind me showing it off :)

I used primarily Fancy Pants products for this...

FP patterned Paper:

Happy Holidays "Candy Cane", On A Whimsy "Flutter", Botanical "Tulip", Kewl "Splendid", Frou-Frou "Lil' Princess", Delight "Bubbles" and Sweet Spring "Sweet Spring Alpha".

FP felt shape stars: Tis' The Season, Fashion Sense.

FP star border stamp: "Chic Alpha" set.


FP chipboard scrolls: "All Fall" Printed chipboard shapes.


FP ribbon trim: "Dapper Collection" ribbon.


Other products that I used include:
Bazzill cardstock
Cricut (Story Book, Graphically Speaking and George carts).
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Antique Brass, Meadow and Pewter.
ColorBox Chestnut Roan Chalk ink.
Corrugated cardboard
Black twist-tie
Pinking shears
Pounce Wheel tool
Foam tape and 2-Way Zig glue pen
Scrapbook frame from Michael's (took glass out).

Here's some other detail shots...




Thanks for looking! And thank YOU, Fancy Pants, for inspiring me to get this done with your challenge! :)

Life can turn on the drop of a dime!

Yes, life is funny that way! But, by now I know all to well. And once more, bad luck has struck us again.

I've just had one of the happiest months of my life and now it's suddenly morfed into another melancholy mess. As it turns out, I should exuberantly be announcing my pregnancy, as I am currently approx. 10 weeks along. However, yesterday it was confirmed that this pregnancy will not continue! Sorta confusing to me because I am pregnant, I feel pregnant in every sense of the way, and by gosh, I am even starting to look pregnant... but there will be no baby. It all started a few weeks back when I went in for my first u/s check going on 7 weeks. At that appointment, a gestational sac appeared but there was no fetal pole (baby) or heartbeat. My OB really didn't think much of it because he said that it maybe just too early to be detected... that in many cases these don't show up till at least 8 weeks. So I was scheduled to come back for another check this week at 9 weeks. I went in on Monday the 8th, to have my u/s, which just so happened to be exactly 1 year since we had and lost our Amelia. Not a good day :( The u/s again showed no baby, only a larger gestational sac. I went to the hospital and had my blood drawn again to check the Hcg levels and the numbers indicated were very good, which was confusing, so he had me wait until yesterday (Thursday) to come back in and check once more. This time, my Hcg levels started to decrease and of course when he did another u/s... no baby again. I have what is referred to as a "Blighted Ovum", a miscarriage that is fairly common in pregnancies. It just wasn't meant to be... even though still very frustrating and heartbreaking for us.

I will be going into the hopital on Tuesday for a D&C. It really sucks knowing that for now I am pregnant and had all the hopes dreams and possibilities of having a baby this January, and after Tuesday, that will all be out the window... again. But, for now we are doing okay, and as I've told some others, this pales in comparison to what we've already gone through the past 4 years... although it still stings! I refuse to let this defeat me. We will one day reach that glorified finish line with our baby in our arms. My faith is not broken, and I truly believe this!

Just wanted to close out this post with a scrapbook page that I made soon after we found out that we pregnant this time. It will still be included in our family scrapbook...

It's another Hop at Outta This Funk!

I have been a very bad blogger these past weeks... I have rarely posted much at all, that is! I guess you could say I've been in a funk of my own. But I shouldn't be. I have so many photos that I need to get scrappped, a handful of cards that need made for certain people, and I certainly have enough product to use for my all said creations. Really, I should have no excuses... but plain and simple, I'll plead guilty to laziness!

So I'll admit, I didn't create anything special to show off to my fellow crafters during this second "Outta This Funk" Blog Hop. I just didn't have it in me to create this week with all the dreary rain we've been having here in PA. So, I'm just going to dig into my project archives and share another card that I recently made. I made this wedding card to take to a friend's wedding last month. Her wedding color was baby blue so I wanted to create something matchy!

This was really easy to make... I used some blue Bazzill cs with a small heart scalloped punch edge and over-layed a lighter blue layer of the KI lace paper. I cut my Celebrate Love sentiment on a brighter blue cs, using the Cricut Calligraphy Collection cartridge. I then finished off the card by threading a blue satin ribbon onto a white button and securing fast around the card front. Elegant, yet simple... it probably took me 15 minutes tops to complete this.

Well, thanks for stopping by my blog, but now I must send you in the direction of more inspiration! Please be sure to stop by and visit Char at, http://www.scrappinchar.blogspot.com/

Ohhh... also, I'll randomly be giving away a nice bag O' ribbons (including some of the pretty blue satin ribbon that I used in the above wedding card)... and maybe a lil' something extra thrown in for good measure too! Sooo, if you'd like to have a chance at it, I'll be picking one lucky person who comments here on this blog post! :) Hope you have a wonderful inspired weekend!

ETA: OTF BLOG HOP WINNER is....

Cricut Calligraphy Collection cart... projects to share!

I am finally getting around to making a post for these assignments from CreativeXpress last month. I don't know where all the days are flying to because I find it hard to believe that we are already in the 5th month of the year! And it'll soon be Summer, officially, so I hope that it soon begins to act like Summer too. But not too stinkin' hot, lol!

So yes, this past month I got to work with the Calligraphy Collection cartridge from Cricut for my projects and found out that I love the fonts from this! There are also some really cute phrases and images perfect for cardmaking. I made two cards and one scrapbook layout, and here they are...

"Be Happy" card

"Hope" card

"Autumn Welcome"

Full intructions for how I put these projects together can be found over at CX's new blog!

I hope everyone had a special Mother's Day last Sunday, whether you celebrated with your own children, with your own mothers and perhaps Grandmothers too, or all of them! I know a special day like Mother's Day can be difficult for some as well... I know that I myself struggle a bit, but I still celebrate it because I enjoy spending the day with my own mom and grandmother. I also know that I am a mom to those angels of mine, even though they can't be with me here in the physical sense. I was surprised by a beautiful card that I got from my hubby and angels. I have the most thoughtful and sincere husband ever... I totally believe that! It was a great day... we also had a fun cook-out (although somewhat breezy), here at our place for mom and gram! It seems we've really been into the cook-outs and barbecuing on the grill since we just bought a new gas grill at the end of last month. Now it's hard to cook anything in the kitchen, lol!

Well, I need to get going and do something productive on my list. This weekend we are having a yard sale and there's still a lot to still get ready for it... can't wait til it's over and all the junk is gone... at least I hope!

Outta This Funk is hopping with creativity today!

Hey there everyone in blog-land today! Happy Saturday!

Not too much going on today, on this beautiful summer-like Pennsylvania day, but Outta This Funk (OOTF) is having their first Blog Hop and I am sure there will be plenty of creativity oozing from all the girlies blogs today, so if you have some time on your hands and are wanting some outstanding inspiration to perhaps get you "out of your funk"... be sure to check them all out!


Today I thought I'd share with you a card that I created using some flocked elements! I am loving flocking right now, and it's really fun to use. If you haven't gotten any flock yet, I urge you to GO GET SOME QUICK!! Really!

Other supplies used for this card include...

Patterned paper: Fancy Pants Designs.

Cardstock: Bazzill.

Distressing Kit: Making Memories.

"Love One Another" rubberstamp: PSX Designs.

Chipboard Swirl: Thickers, American Crafts.

Flocked brads: Creative Cafe, Creative Imaginations.

Soft Flock Fibers (Vanilla Creme): Plaid.

Personal Die-cut machine and Cart: Cricut, Provo Craft (Story Book cart).

Other: Black foam squares and Staz-On jet black ink.

Sooo, now that I have hoped to inspire you all to go grab some flock to do your next card or project, I hope that you'll continue to hop on over to the next blog on the OOTF journey. I'm now sending you to visit **CHAR** at http://scrappinchar.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday! :)

Spot Light!

Well, some fun news from GCD Studios... :D


Spot Light gals
What is a Spot Light gal?These lovely gals turned in GORGEOUS work for their submission (using GCD products). It was hard picking only 13 people and we didn't want to let these 40 go, without showing them off!Over the next 3 months, each of these girls will have a spot light on them :) To show off their beautiful work!Congrats girls! I can't wait to work with you.

Selena Kimsey
Kristin Faust
Kazue Macdonald
Karen Patterson
Patricia Komara
Jing-Jing Nickel
Carissa Peach
Rebecca Voth
Regina Jones
Tracey Locher
Andrea Amu
Windy Robinson
Julie Overby
Susan Lui
Wendy Kwok
Rite Barakat
Amy Tara Koeppel
Gina Hanson
Lisa Warren
Tracey Taylor
Pamela Young
Melita Chow
Grace Tan
Ellen Sosnoski
Naureen O’ Neale
Michele Brooks
Gudrun Loennecken
Kim Dellow
Jennifer Ellefson
Rebecca Keppel
Michelle Bertuzzi
Jenifer Cowles
Pearl Liu
Sophie Sim-Lawrence
Juliet Adora Concepcion
Norma Kennedy
Andrea Wiebe
Laura Williams
Niki Meiners
Deana Boston



I was surprised and excited to have made their list! Yay!

There's a Party...

and I can tell you... I ain't foolin' when I say that I did not make the awesome GCD dt! :(
But, I am anxious to see who did... and if I am on one of those lists too! I'll be checkin' it out on Monday!

Scrappy Stuff... CX dt projects and GCD Studios dt search!

It's finally the weekend! Wooo-hooo! Today's a lazy day for sure, but I have a bit of company. I'm doggy-sittin' for my doggy niece again this weekend while my brother and SIL are out of town. We kept her last weekend too, but she got really mad and persnickity because another little 2 month old puppy came to visit, and well, Princess Jenna didn't want to have anything to do with Molly the puppy! She was sooo jealous. But now she's all better... no lil' new puppy on the block to contend with, lol!

Anyway, I have alot of scrapbooking stuff to upload and share and I've even been busy scrapping this past weekend for the GCD Studios Design Team search!

First though, here's my CX dt projects from last month... I had to create 2 cards and one layout using the "Bazzill Fourz" cardstock color packs. I really had fun with all these because I focused on using cardstock for the majority of the product, when I usually tend to layer on the patterns in my work.

Again, if you click on the titles to each of the projects you can read the full tutorials for them over at my CX design team blogs... and again I thank you for looking!

"Cherish" card, (Bazzill Fourz assignment - Turquoise)

"Hello", Paisley card (Bazzill Fourz assignment - True Blue)

"Taking the Scenic Route", layout (Bazzill Fourz assignment - Turquoise)

And now for GCD Studios... yes, they are having a Design Team search and it ends today. I decided to finally hit "SEND". I know that my chances of making the team are as good as getting a winning lottery ticket (I read on their blog that they have over 350 some entries submitted), but hey... it got me scrapping this past week at least and I really like what I was able to turn out using the papers I could find of their's. Good luck to all the other talented ladies who are going for this too!

Here's what I did...

"New Home For the Holidays"

"Ginger"

"Santa's Helper"

I will say that I do think the GCD papers are beautiful, and they are definitely top-notch quality! Give them a try if you haven't already!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)

Exactly a year ago to this day...

all was happy in my world! It was Easter Sunday and we were so very excited to be breaking the news to my family that I was once again expecting! If I had known then, that two weeks later my dad was going to die and that 2 months after that, we would be losing yet another daughter... I would have thought it all to be the cruelest heartbreak of anything that could be thrown my way... and well, it is, and that's how I feel a year later. But, we are doing well. Some days are just down right crazy hard to deal, but for the most part, we forge through. I am still so appreciative of all the people and friends who continue to pray for us and keep us in your thoughts, and I just want everyone to know that we rely on those P&T to help us through those hardest of days! :) In the midst of it all, we are still blessed!

I am ever so happy that Spring is finally here and that in this part of the state, it does seem to be getting warmer! Although... it can warm up a significant amount more too! I really wouldn't mind! I was busy last week changing out the clothes in my closet in hopes of preparing for the warmer weather. I packed up the majority of my long sleeved sweaters and turtlenecks in totes and brought out other totes with my Spring clothes. I'm still working on getting most of it all washed. I am most excited to break out all my Birkenstocks! I hate wearing socks and shoes and having my toes all trapped... they are eager to breathe!

Not too much has been going on here, thus the lack of updates on this blog. I haven't even really been doing much at all in the lines of scrapping... except for design team work. Again, can't wait for it to warm up so I can finally get back to working in my scraproom in the basement. The only time we are down there now is usually when we have people over to play pool some evenings and then we have the wood stove roaring! I don't light up the stove down there during the day when it's just me here, so it's too too cold for me down there right now. Such a pain because everytime I want to scrap, I have to go down and bring stuff up!

So for now, I'll end this with a few more scrapbook layouts that I did for my assignments at CX for the month of February. For these I had to design my pages using the design principle of "Asymmetry". You can view my full project tutorials over at my CX project blogs when you click on the title to each page here. These were both fun to do and I used the Basic Grey "Offbeat" collection for both. Thanks again for looking :)

Wii Golf & Wii Bowl!

Skloosh, Wet n Wild!

Imaginisce!

I am so far behind in updating my CX DT assignments here...

so that's what I'm gonna do!

These are all projects that I did for the month of December, and I got to create with the new whimsical Twitterpated paper and embellishments from Imaginisce!

I have to admit, this isn't really a collection that I would normally gravitate to,

but I actually found them to be so fun and versatile to work with.

With these assignments I also had to focus on using my Cricut and Cuttlebug to aid me in creating fresh embellishments to work along with the Imaginisce.

So here's what I created...

Spring Day in the Park

Here are close up shots of the detail for the floral and butterfly embellishments I made using the Cricut "Storybook" cartridge. Storybook is my favorite... if you are a Cricut user and you have yet to get this one... it's a MUST, IMO! I used the "Textile" Cuttlebug embossing folder for these...

I also did two different cards for this assignment...

All Creatures Great & Small

This card was designed as a general "all occassions" themed card. Again I used my favorite, "Storybook" cart for the sweet owl scalloped frame.

So Mushroom In My Heart

I love the look of shaped cards, and this was so fun for me to create. I got the inspiration for creating this mushroom card from a sheet of mushroom patterned paper and mushroom chipboard stickers that are included in this Twitterpated collection. With the "So Mushroom" ("So Much Room"), I created a clever play on words for the card's sentiment.

I could not find a mushroom image in my Cricut collection of carts, so I improvised by finding other images that I could put together to create the mushroom design. A flower vase image transformed easily into a mushroom stem and the body of a ladybug was used to create the mushroom's cap. Both images were found on the "Walk In My Garden" cart, and both images had to be tweaked a bit, but it worked!

To view complete product lists and tutorials of any of these projects you can click on the bolded titles to take you to my CreativeXpress blogs.

Well, it's now March already and it's almost Friday too... how time flies! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I think it's supposed to be sunny and warmer here, so it's all good ;) Enjoy!