Over the Hill

Today I wanted to spotlight 2 of the decorations I made with my Cricut Expression and Make The Cut software for my husbands 60th Birthday Party. The grimreaper I found as a JPG file on a Graphics CD Collection I have had for ages (the copyright is 1990!) I did a bitmap trace in MTC, cleaned it up and resized it. Then I made the blackout shadow on a second layer so I can turn layers on and off when I need to cut. I then created the text, resized and adjusted then welded it all together and made a shadow layer. All the pieces were then cut out and assembled.

I found the "Over the Hill" SVG file here. I added text in the hill and used the Cricut markers to have the Cricut write it on my cardstock. Without removing my mat from the Cricut, I switched to the cutting blade and cut out the hill and text over it. I filled in the drawn text by hand with a silver marker.Til next time...

Digital Doings

I have a confession to make. I have owned StampinUp's My Digital Studio for a year, have installed all the updates and even bought a download or two but never used the program... until now. It's slow and lacks many features that I would consider basic but it gets the job done and it's easy for those who aren't that computer savy. I would be in love with it if I could get it to go a little faster but overall I like the program and I am having fun with it.

Here is a page I made in MDS using the Autumn Spice digital kit. It is for an album I am making as a Christmas gift, highlighting our family over the last year. Now I have to get it printed so I can see who does the best job. Will post on my findings once I do that.

Til next time...

A little craftyness!

Just thought I'd share an item or 2 that I have made within the last few months. The first is a wedding card I made for some dear friends. Paper, ink, butterfly die and ribbon is by StampinUp; stamps are from Verve and die cuts from Spellbinders.








The next item is a gift box tower made with my Cricut Expression, Make the Cut software and the Big Boutique Boxes set from SVGCuts.com The cardstock bottoms were cut from Bazzil and the tops were cut from Making Memories Pitter Patter line of heavy weight, double sided scrapbook paper.

Til next time...

Update

Life is finally getting into a rhythm I can deal with. The chickens wake me up much earlier than I like but it gives me a jump start on the day. The dogs & I let the chickens out of their coop then I feed and clean everyone and everything. Once all the feeding and cleaning is done I am off to the craft room. So since the last time I posted I have stript the bathroom walls, mostly gutted the kitchen, finally started using SUs My Digital Studio, switched to Make the Cut for designing cut files for my Cricut, finished the library and craft room (Yes! It really is finished this time.) and threw a surprise Birthday Party for my husband's 60th Birthday. Now the only major thing to do is finish the kitchen and bathroom remodel.

Now I want to introduce you to the feathered girls, Penny, Hazel and Elvira. Penny is the inquisitive one, Hazel is the "I'm beautiful " one and Elvira is the ringleader.

Here are the guys from Chickoopy delivering the girls and their coop.

Penny

HazelElvira

Til next time...

I'm here!

I'm really here and have so much to share but just haven't had the time. Please be patient with me. I bought a Cricut Expression and Sure Cuts a Lot and have been learning how to create my own SVG files. I plan on making some of them available for download. I have also been trying to get into a routine so I can take care of 4 cats, 3 chickens, 2 dogs and 1 kooky Father-in-law while leaving room for crafting and everything else. And I have been designing and looking for subcontractors to do my new kitchen and bathroom. I spent today ripping out the wallpaper in the bathroom, trying to help a neighbor whose husband is leaving her after 35 years, converting some clipart files for another friend, and barbequing a chicken(shhh! We call it "that other white meat" and I made the girls close their eyes while I put it on the rotisserie) for dinner. I also squeezed in some scrapbooking and worked on learning the finer points of using Inkscape as well as Sure Cuts a Lot. My days are full and I've never been happier. Now I just have to squeeze in some blogging time.

Til next time...

New Kitties

I've been up since 6 AM so why am I just now posting to this blog? Well, actually, between cleaning up after the dogs, weeding and watering, feeding the birds and doing litter boxes, I haven't had breakfast and it is now 1:30 in the afternoon. And I had a bazillion other things to do which have all been checked off my To-Do List. Now I get to blog then do some scrapbooking. I may even get in a little reading before it is time to begin cooking dinner. Yay!!!

Anyway, back in February, our dog Toby was bitten by a very nasty spider which infected a joint in his leg. We ended up having to have the leg opened and drained so we were at the vets every few days for a month. During one of our visits, the Utah Animal Adoption Center brought in a van full of animals to be checked and fixed. The Vet Techs were swamped so I lent a hand by helping with the intake exams, weights and forms. One pet carrier contained two 6 month old kittens who happened to be littermates. They were so sweet and had been rescued just moments before they were to be euthanized. My heart melted and I just had to have them so I adopted them.

I won't go into too much detail but the first 2 months were a real trial. They had been exposed to a really bad respiratory thing but didn't show symptoms until after they were introduced to Bailey & Thaddeus so I nursed 4 very sick cats for several weeks. They had spent their entire lives in a cage so they were terrified of being on the loose, couldn't climb or jump, could not negotiate stairs and they had never been nose to nose with a dog let alone two of them. I handled it all, the eye and nose wiping, the pilling, the force feeding and the refereeing and I did it all with only one hand. What some of us will do for our animals!

Everyone is now happy, healthy and well adjusted and I can't imagine a life without them. So without further adieu, here are the girls.

This is Snowflake, who is super tiny even now at 11 months old. And she has a gray letter "K" on her head! She was meant for me even if she does think she's a princess.This is Maddie who now weighs nearly as much as the boys do. Obviously her favorite pasttime is eating and then beating up her toy mice when she isn't trying to beat up all the boys.
I put a bird feeder right outside of this kitchen window so here is the whole gang watching The Kitty Food Network. From left to right is Snowflake, Thaddeus Kosiuszko, Maddie and Bailey.

Til next time...

I'm Baaaaack!

Didn't mean to be gone this long. The hand took several months to heal, which I expected, but then I got involved with a bunch of other things. Since I wasn't using it, I decided that it was the perfect time to have the craft room reorganized. I just love Ikea! I also rescued and adopted two 6 month old girl kitties. After 33 years of being the only female in a nearly all male household (husband, father-in-law, sons, dogs and cats) I finally have my girls. What a totally different dynamic! I have also managed to do some stamping, scrapbooking, gardening and house hunting. And in 2 weeks I'll be able to reveal my latest endeavor.

I plan to start posting almost daily now. I have so many photos to share of the girls (as well as the boys) the craft room, my work, the garden and I may even post about some of the homes we've seen. Here are a few shots of the hand, post surgery.











I was fine when they took out all the stitches until I looked down and saw the pins sticking out. Then I was OK until I saw the Xrays and could see where the pins went. After they removed the stitches I got to wear the nifty little cast with the pins STILL in my thumb joints. Ack!!
Finally the pins were removed and I could really start healing.

Til next time...