New Cameo!

My Christmas present this year was a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine. I still love my Cricut, but I've always admired the intricate cuts that the Cameo can make. Here are a few examples of cuts from the machine.

Another wonderful feature is the print and cut. You can print images using your home printer and then cut them with the Cameo!

Thank You Cards

Here are some random thank you cards...

December Daily 2011 Video - Episode 42

Here is a video overview of my 2011 December Daily Album. The inspiration for this album came from Ali Edwards. Here is a link to her blog posts about Ali's December Daily process. The majority of the paper and stickers are from Fancy Pants Saint Nick collection.

This was my first attempt at a December Daily album, and I learned a lot about the process! My goal was to have it completed by mid January, and I succeeded. The key to finishing was my motto, "done is better than perfect." I just wanted to keep up with each day as it came. Since I don't have a photo printer at home, I had to get my photos developed once a week. I kept track of what happened each day in my calendar.

I did a lot of planning and preparation before the first of December. This was good in that I had ideas of specific pages I wanted to include. The down side was that since I pre-made pages, it was sometimes hard to fit the daily picture or story with the page.

For 2012, I will probably do a smaller album. I felt like there was a lot of blank space on my pages. I'm not sure. I will definitely plan specific pages, but I will not glue things down until I have pictures and stories ready to go.

I plan to do more journaling!!!

You're A Hoot Card

The love this adorable owl. The image is from the Basic Grey Owlet stamp set. I stamped him in brown ink and used pink ink for the eyes. The paper is from Basic Grey's Clippings 6 x 6 pad. I love this paper!! The sentiment is from the My Pink Stamper's Punny-licious stamp set. Brown twine finishes the card!

Eiffel Tower Card

This simple card was made using My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Union Square paper. The base card is made with kraft cardstock. The fold is at the left side. I trimmed off 1 inch from the front. I used clear embossing powder to create the swirl image on the inside of the card. The square on the top right was on the same sheet as the Eiffel Tower. I set it off using red ink around the edges. 

Thinking of You Card - Episode 41

For this card, I used paper from Cosmo Cricket's Little Girl Biography collection. The paper is so cute! I used one of my all-time favorite Cricut cartridges, Storybook, for the flower. It's a simple and sweet card.

Scrapbooking On The Go - Episode 40

I love to attend scrapbooking crops. It is a fun time with friends and family where we all get together and work on scrapbooks or cards or any crafting project. I have a fun group of friends that I met on the Cricut message boards a couple years ago, and we love getting together. These events are called Swarms, and they are a blast.

In this video, I show you how I prepare for a crop/swarm. I love to spend most of my time chatting and socializing!! In order to get anything accomplished, I spend time before the event preparing pages so that at the crop all I have to do is assemble the pages and journal. I do most of the "thinking" beforehand, so I can concentrate on having fun!!