Merry Christmas!!!

This week as I was reading on facebook I saw this post from Ann Voskamp and thought that I would share it with you.

Ann Voskamp

 

Hey Soul? It's *okay* that you didn't get it all done. And that it's messy & far from perfect. Smile relief, keep smiling relief: The One coming to the manger, is the Messiah who assures you: It. Is. Finished. He came to do it all... so you don't have to stress at all. The point of Christmas is you can *rest in His perfection*--- because He embraces you in your *imperfection.*
Your greatest gift is that He loves you for *being*--- not doing. "The LORD appeared to us... saying: I have loved you with an *everlasting* love...”Jeremiah 31:3. #PreachingGospeltoMyself

 

I don't know about you, but I often get stressed out in the things that I think are important to get done and sometimes miss the most important things.

 

As we have arrived at Christmas morning and the world didn't end because I didn't finish everything that I had planned.... I pray that you too will be able to relax and remember the true reason for the season.

 

 

 

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!!!

 

 

Marine Corps Marathon

So proud of my daughter, Megan and her boyfriend who will be running in their first marathon this weekend.  As an encouragement, I made them each a card to let them know how proud I am of all of their hard work.  They have been training for the last 4 months......

Here is the card that I made.

This idea originally came to me after I saw a card that Katie with Crafting with Katie had on her blog in August.  I really appreciate when others share their work and it gives us ideas and it turns into something totally different.  I used a Cuttlebug folder with clocks on it, the running shoe was cut from the CM Total Sports Cartridge and the Way to Go was from George and Basic shapes cartridge.  The crimper and another folder gave the running shoe the dimension that I was looking for. 

Hope you enjoy it and cheer on the runners this weekend!  Hoping that I actually get to see her as she runs by along the course!!

Have a great day!

Donna

Amazing how a little kindness brightens your whole week!!

A sweet package arrived at my home this week!!!  Just want to say thanks to Angela, (Tiffy'sMom from the Cricut Circle)  this was a perfect time for this to arrive, I had a really stressful couple of weeks at work and this  really lifted my spirits!!!

I will post some projects with it soon!!

Thanks again for you kindness and I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Donna

Thanks for stopping by for Week 4 of our ........

Christmas In July Blog Hop ~ Anything Goes!

Welcome to the 4th and final Christmas In July Blog Hop! The theme for this week is Cricut Christmas~Anything Goes! We've got a lot of talented Cricut crafters who have created Christmas projects, using their Cricut, to inspire you! And don't forget the prizes! We have a Christmas Village cart to give away to one lucky blog hopper! Be sure to make it all the way around to get as many chances for the great prizes!!!

 

Since I started out as a scrapbooker, that was the inspiration for my project for this week's blog hop.

 

Earlier this week, one the blogs that I follow had a layout that I thought was just adorable and although it wasn't created with a Cricut I adapted some of the cuts and I think that it came out pretty cute!!

 

 

 

 

 I started out with quite a wide variety of paper from various sources including Creative Memories.

 

 

 Next I used my large scalloped circle from Creative Memories to make the wreath.  And because I tend to be a frugal scrapbooker, I cut the wreath from the sheet that will eventually become the base of this layout.

 

 

 You may also notice one of my latest craft purchases is the Scrap' N' Easel.  This was great for keeping me organized as I went along with my project.

Here are some additional pictures as I was working through the layout.

 

This layout will eventually have our family picture on the photo mat and then additional pictures will go on the second page of this layout.  I had originally planned to make it a two page spread, but time got away from me this week and you'll have to come back and see what the other page looks like. :-)

 

Here is the final picture with all the bling.  The deer was cut using Paper Doll Dress Up and I manipulated it just a bit in Cricut Craft Room, before I cut it.  The Merry Christmas sentiment was cut using the Close to my Heart Artiste cartridge, and then I used gold stickles to add a little bling.  I thought that the candy cane turned out so darn cute and was cut with two layers off the Christmas Cheer cartridge.  The holly leaves are again two cuts glued together to give some dimension using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. Finally the little bow on the candy cane was found on the CM Tiny Treasures cartridge.  The corners were cut from 2.5 inch squares that I cut in half and then I embossed them with my Cuttlebug.  The snowflakes in the middle of each triangle are from a CM punch.

 

 

 

 

This month long blog hop has been awesome and I have really enjoyed participating with projects  two of the four weeks.  I hope that you've had a chance to see all of the really creative projects.  If not be sure to go back and take a look and be inspired to make a Christmas in July project of your own.  You'll see if you check out the link to the blog where I originally got this idea, that while the design is similar, I was able to make it uniquely different with some variations in the cuts and  papers used.   I always consider it a compliment when someone is able to expand on one of my ideas to make a project of their own.                                                                                                                                       

 

Thanks so much for stopping by,  continue on to Cindy's blog for more great Christmas projects.  Please remember to leave me a comment about what you think of my project and in addition to the other blog candy that you may find along the way I will have a drawing for a paper pack on Tuesday using Random.org so be sure to follow my blog so that I will have a way to let you know if you won!!

 

In case you didn't start at Scrapalette's Blog here's the blog hop line up:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/  <<<START

Sis at http://papercraftscissors.com/ 

Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/

Laura at http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/

Brenda at http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/

Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/

Donna at http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/<<You are Here

Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/<<Go Here Next

Angela at http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/

Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/

Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/

Betsy at http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

Loraine at http://www.lorainespaperplayhouse.blogspot.com/

Christmas in July Blog Hop Week 3 ---- It's Christmas ornaments!!!

Good morning!!!  Thanks for participating in the Christmas in July Blog Hop!!  Although I didn't plan a project for week  3, I did hop and have added the lineup below so that you can check out all of the wonderful ornaments that I saw and you will have a chance to win a new Cricut cartridge!!

Remember last week I said that we would have a drawing for the card kit to make the Nativity card that I shared with you....... well drawing a name using Random.org

True Random Number Generator
Min:  
Max:
Result: 1 

Drum roll..............  the winner is:

Diane  July 12, 2013 at 11:47 PM

Great minds think alike! I have a step card on my blog too!! How fabulous that you included a tutorial. This is a beautiful card with an even more beautiful message!!

 

Congratulations Diane!!!  Please email me at CMe2Crop at bellsouth dot net your complete name and mailing address and I will get it off to you in the mail.

 

Christmas In July Blog Hop ~ Ornaments Edition!

Welcome to the third Christmas in July Blog Hop! This week's projects are Christmas Ornaments! We have another terrific line-up of Cricut crafting bloggers for you to hop to their blogs and see their projects! And, we have another prize for this week. It's a Trim the Tree cart!

 

Here's the entire Blog Hop line up, in case you get lost along the way:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ <<<start
Angela at http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/
Colleen at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/
Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
Laura at http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/
Lori at http://singingshell.blogspot.com/



Thanks again for stopping by..... be sure to check back next week for the final week of the Christmas in July Blog Hop and see the project that I will have posted.

Until next time,  Happy Cropping!!!!

Donna

The second Week of the Christmas in July blog hop is HERE! This weekend is Christmas Cards!

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop! I'm so glad you've joined us today. We have a great line-up of talented Cricut crafters who all have a Christmas Card project for you to enjoy. And, we have some prizes too! Be sure to start at the beginning so that you don't miss any of the projects and have the opportunity to win the Cricut Christmas Cards Cartridge.  Details are on Scrapalette's blog so if you missed it circle back so that you don't miss anything.

I am so glad to share my Christmas Card with you.  As I was thinking of what kind of a card to make, one style card kept springing up.  It is the side step card.  This is a very versatile design that I learned from the Splitcoaststampers tutorial.  Since our theme is Christmas, I naturally thought of Nativity scenes and that was the start of my project.  I saw several others that had used the side step card design and really liked them.

 

 

 

 

The only change, besides design that I did was my card is 6.5 inches wide.

I used my Creative Memories straight cutter to make the cut and then used my Martha Stewart scoring board to make the folds.

After you have cut, scored and folded the layers or steps, it looks something like this. 

The silhouette die cuts were made with several Cricut cartridges including the Teresa Collins December 25, New Testament, and Noah's ABC Animals.  In making the Wiseman that is on the camel I used the welding feature to attach the wiseman to the camel in Cricut Craft Room.

I am really pleased with the end result and hope that you've enjoyed it as well.  If you follow my blog and leave a comment I will also have a drawing for a Nativity Card Kit for you to put together yourself.   I will pick the winner on Friday, July 19th.

Be sure to check out the other crafters in the line up.  If you came here from Linda's blog, you'll now be ready to visit Cindy's blog!!   Thanks again for visiting!!!  

 

Here's this weeks line up:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

Sis at http://papercraftscissors.com/

Diane at http://dianesdribble.blogspot.com/

Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/

Linda at http://ladybuglair.blogspot.com/

Donna at http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/  You are here!!!!

Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/

Fran at http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/

Colleen at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/

Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Christmas in July Blog Hop starts today!!!

While I'm not on tap until next week, I wanted to remind you that the Christmas in July Blog Hop starts today and this week it is gift card holders.   I have already visited and there are some really adorable projects and of course a chance to win a cartridge.   Hop on over to Scrapalette's blog  to get started.

See below for the whole line up!!

Here is the line-up for this week's Gift Card Holder Blog Hop:

Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ 
Laura at http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/ 
Fran at http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/
Colleen at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/
Theresa at http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
Beth at http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
Betsy at http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for stopping by and hopping along with us! Don't forget next Saturday we'll be featuring Christmas Cards. Merry Christmas in July!

Celebrating July 4th our Independence Day!!

Hope that you all have a wonderful holiday! It has been rainy here all week and supposed to continue today! But hopefully this picture will remind you of wonderful fireworks and you'll join me in being Thankful to be an American!!! 

 

Hopefully where you live this July 4th you may have clear skies and will be able to enjoy the beautiful fireworks.  Unfortunately here in the Carolinas, we have had a very rainy week and it is still rainy and dreary so for those of you that can relate to this I have added this picture that clearly shows that there are blue skies above the rain.

 

As always I am so grateful that you have chosen to stop by!

 

Have an awesome day!!

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hi! Guess what? I'm going to be a part of a great blog hop. Every Saturday in July, we will be celebrating Christmas in July. There will be between 6-15 blogs each week to hop to and check out great ideas for Christmas projects.


So here is the run down...

July 6 ~ Cricut Christmas Gift Card Holders
July 13 ~ Cricut Christmas Cards
July 20 ~ Cricut Christmas Ornaments
July 27 ~ Cricut Christmas Anything Goes {a gift, home decor, LO, etc}



And just in case you would like to stop by the blogs early and show a little love to the bloggers...

http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

http://papercraftscissors.com/

http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/

http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/

http://dianesdribble.blogspot.com/

http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/

http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/

http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/

http://ladybuglair.blogspot.com/

http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/

http://angiespaperpassion.blogspot.com/

http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/

http://www.withglitteringeyes.blogspot.com/

http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/

http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

Not all bloggers are participating each week, so be sure to stop back by my blog for a complete list. There will be some great giveaways too. So be sure to stop by each blog on the list each week.
Can't wait to see you on the 6th!

Happy Scrapping,
Donna

Happy first day of summer and Anniversary to my darling husband!

It's been a busy few weeks, it started out when we were rearranging my craft space and my sweet husband built me a new craft table and then we had my mother in law visiting with us last week, so I haven't been as consistent as I had hoped to be about  posting on my blog.    Here is a card that I made for my husband as we are celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary today.    I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it for him.

This originally started out from a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers and it kind of evolved into an easel card.  Over all I am very pleased with how it came out.     I used the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge for the die cuts and the Cuttlebug for the embossing, not sure where I got the embossing folder, but I love the timepieces!!  The stamping was from various sources as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by to look.

Have a great day!

Donna

Just saw this product and wanted to share it with you!

Good Morning!  Really should be cleaning in my craft room or outside working in my garden before it gets too hot, but I wanted to share this interesting new product that I just saw on Blitzy.

KellyCraft - Laser Square Link to YouTube video

Have you ever been working on a card or scrapbook page and just can't get stuff lined up?  Well, I have more times than I care to admit and then end up having to pull them up and try to realign and have even at times ruined good paper in the process. 

If you are a member of Blitzy  you may already know about it, but if not and you'd like to check it out here is a link to sign up for a free account.   A friend from the Cricut Message board invited me and I am very thankful.

Have a great day!

Donna

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day.....  a day I often dread.....   I love my children and know that we will have a great time celebrating today.  But, my heart is also sad as I miss my own Mom so much.  I think about how the time has flown by and how much I would have loved to make my Mom a very special Mother's Day card!  Since she is spending her day in Heaven this will have to do!

                                                  Happy Mother's Day!
                                                     Mom,  I love you!


Yesterday I put the finishing touches on a Mother's Day card for my Mother-in-law and hope that she will like it.  On Splitcoast Stampers I found a tutorial for a lever card a few weeks ago and thought that it would make a beautiful card for so many occasions. 

I used Creative Memories card stock and embellished some of the sections with my Cuttlebug  I absolutely love how it adds dimension to projects.   The flower on the front was hand made a couple of months ago and I wish that I could remember where I got the directions so that I could share that with you. 

Anyways I hope that you enjoy this card and hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day either as a Mom or as a child loving your Mom!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Challenge for Circleville NSD 2013 - Did-I-MENSION?

As you know this last weekend we celebrated National Scrapbook Day on the Cricut Message board and have turned it into a week long celebration.

This is the dimensional piece that I made for the challenge that RockinRenee had on the board and her blog.  I used the Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge to make this cake slice and then embossed it with my cuttlebug.

My MIL loves chocolate so since she lives in Utah and we live in NC it would be a challenge to get her an actual piece of cake to celebrate her birthday.  So I made this chocolate slice of cake and filled the box with Hershey's chocolate as a substitute.  Hope that she will like it.

It looks almost good enough to eat!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Donna

Welcome to my National Scrapbooking Day Post!!

Wow, this has been fun preparing for this post.  I have often seen these exploding scrapbook boxes and wanted to do one.  Signing up to be a presenter for NSD made me get off the sidelines and do it!

I wish that I was talented enough to have come up with this idea all on my own, but alas I am great at scraplifting :-)  This was a very unique pattern that I found on the internet that was done by a crafter from Brazil.  Just goes to show that crafters bridge the gap world wide as we all speak the same language at heart.  I have actually translated her directions into English and will include a link to her blog and YouTube video.

Here are a few more pictures of my project going through the steps.  I used all Creative Memories card stock for this project and used there tape ribbon and flowers as well.

The idea of leaving the corner blocks was part of what really attracted me to this project.  I used the CM heart shape from the cutting system as my base.  I then added a slightly smaller heart on top and added dimension to that with the new Anna Griffin cuttlebug folders that just arrived in my mailbox this week.  See the pictures below.

The next pictures will show the exploding levels of this project.  I selected two double sided patterns.  This version of the exploding box also incorporated little slide out tags.  Since I am using this project as a present for my Mother-in-Law for her birthday.  I am going to have my husband and children each write a note to her on one of the tags.  The ones that are left I will add some pretty stamped messages.

Using the multiple colored paper was stepping a bit outside my normal comfort zone, but I am pleased with how it came out.

This view gives you an idea of what it looks like almost finished.  In the middle of this I am planning to add a popup.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done (couldn't get on CCR last night or this morning :-( )  I will post that on the message board when I get it done.

The last step was to make the lid and again I really liked how she interlocked the pieces and after a bit I was able to get it to work just right.  I actually used a little bit of adhesive to make sure it stayed in place.

To finish off the lid I decorated the inside of the lid with a flower and the top I used a lace ribbon to give it a finished look.

As promised, here is the link to this wonderful crafter's blog and I'm going to try to add the video here for you.
YouTube Video

Here is the link to her blog.  Paloma's Blog  She has other great ideas.  I little hard to read unless you speak Portuguese, but beautiful none the less.

If you would like me to email a pdf with the directions translated into English please either email me at cme2crop@bellsouth.net or send a pm on the board with your email address and I will send them to you.

Now for the prize drawing (May 12, 2013)  .......  I will have a drawing for a $25 Creative Memories Gift Certificate that you can pick out any Creative Memories product and I will send it to you(you must use it with me in order to receive the credit) 


Please do the following. 
1. Post a comment on my blog
2. Use one of the techniques that I used on this project and post a project on the mb.

For an extra chance make an exploding scrapbook box of your own and post on the message board.

Thanks for coming along with me today for this tutorial of the "SURPRISE" exploding scrapbook box.  I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Have a great day and I hope that you will be celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with us!!

Happy Scrapping!

 

There are several of us who are participating in the Circleville NSD Weekend who are also posting our tutorials and/or challenges and/or prizes on our personal blogs. Even if you are not part of the Circle Message Board, they have invited you to visit them and join in the fun! Here is a list of participants and the times you will find their posts on their blogs (all times are Eastern Daylight Time):

http://www.withglitteringeyes.blogspot.com/ - 8AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "It's All About Perspective" Tutorial and Blog Prize - $20 Hobby Lobby Gift Card! 

 

http://carolinascreativecropper.blogspot.com/ - 10AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 20013 "It's A Surprise" tutorial and blog prize - $25 Creative Memories Gift certificate (must be redeemed with me)(you are here!)

http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/ - 11AM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Tic Tac Toe Challenge and Blog Prize!

http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/- 1PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Ease on Down the Road" Blog Prize- $15 Michael's Crafts Gift Card!

http://papercraftscissors.com/- 3PM Saturday, May 4, 2013 "On Pins" theme and Blog Prize - $25 Simon Say Stamp Gift Card!

http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/ - 4PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013. "Tin Is In" theme and Blog Prize!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fallscrappedout.com%2F&h=1AQGQJOFj&s=1 - 6PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "What's It Owl About" theme and Blog Prize!

http://thenon-craftycrafter.blogspot.com.au/ - 8PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "Let's Split- CCR Tutorial" (Learn to create a split letter monogram) and Blog Prize!

http://www.scrappinwiththebug.blogspot.com/ - 10PM EDT Saturday, May 4, 2013 "The Crazy Bs Challenge" and Blog Prize!

http://sarawandrews.com/ - 9AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Go Big or Go Home Challenge" and Blog Prize - $20 Hobby Lobby Gift Card!

http://www.scrappinwiththebug.blogspot.com/ - 11AM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Tropical Sunset Color Challenge" and Blog Prize!

http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/ - 6:30PM EDT Sunday, May 5, 2013 "Did-I-MENSION???" Challenge and Blog Prize!

If you have some time this weekend, you should ease on down the road to everyone's blogs! They are quite the talented group. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!