My Sweet Hippo

I hope you are all having a Great Weekend! Seems like I just can't kick this cold I've had for 3 weeks now, so I guess I will just have to stay home and craft :). Since hubby has been doing most of the work around the house, (which by the way I really appreciate), I've had more time to be able to play with some of my favorite cartridges and I have to admit that I just Love, Love, Love the Create a Critter cartridge! It has so many fun animials and honestly I love them all. Last night I created the Sweet Hippo below....

I used the polka dot paper from the Jo-Ann's pack "Baby Girl" and the ribbon I found in the Michael's dollar bin. You can't tell from the picture, but I put the hippo on a Action Wobble and it's so darn cute when it's going back and forth! If you ladies haven't purchased the Action Wobbles, I would highly recommend them. They really take your cards to the next level with the movement!

By the way we are really close to meeting the goal of 100 followers! You ladies are just Amazing and I can't believe we reached 69 followers in just a couple of days. As soon as the 100th follower joins us I will be giving away the Superman cartridge! Until then I hope you all continue to Create A Crafty Life ~

Life Is Just .....

... Absolutely Crazy! As I mentioned before, this blog may sometimes touch on my personal life, and well... this is just one of those times. When I said that 2011 was going to be a year of change for me, I never knew that those changes would be so immediate. In the middle of January I was involved in a hit & run accident while I driving my 2 boys to school. I have been unable to return to work since the accident, which is a BIG change for me. I have come to appreciate how much I really do love my job and how much I enjoy doing what I do.

So now that I have all this extra time on my hands I've been able to play with my new Cricut Expression machine that Santa brought me for Christmas. It's just so much fun to use and it really offers endless hours of creating. I have been trying to learn more about my Cricut and the different options it offers, which to be honest, are more than I ever thought. In reading other Cricut theme blogs I find myself to be so inspired and excited about all the different ways I can utilize my machine!!!

I've also read how much everyone loves their Gypsy's and how it really opens up a new world with the Cricut, Soooooo.....

Yes, I know I should have stuck to the Expression first, but it seemed like the Gypsy was a must have to really get the most from my cartridges. But now that Cricut has revealed that they're releasing the Cricut Craft Room in April, I'm wondering if I really needed the Gypsy. Either way, I do like the idea of being able to create away from my computer and while I'm on the go with the kids. I just need to figure out the amazing things that I can now do with these 2 Awesome tools from Cricut! I have a few projects that I'm going to be posting later tonight or tomorrow morning and I will be announcing a giveaway that I plan on doing when I reach 200 followers! Thanks for stopping by and remember.... Continue to Create  a Crafty Life ~

A Little Bit of Glamour in Your Life.....

Happy Thursday! I'm ready to enter my 2nd challenge this week and I'm so excited! This challenge is for More Than Favors Wacky Wednesday. You must use Pink, Brown & Green so here is what I came up with:

I used Tie the Knot to cut out the dress & Jo-Anns Debbie Mumm "Baby Girl" pink paper along with a shinny green paper & shinny brown paper as the shadow. I cut out the background using Wild Card cartridge and the green paper is from Me & My Big Ideas paper stack. To highlight the dress I used Yellow & Pink glitter glue. I finished off the card with brown ribbon, pink rhinestones & a "Love" sentiment is from K&G Company.

Monster Love

I'm entering my very first challenge ever today over at More Than Favors. Paula is hosting the Cricut Cartridge Chaos Challenge using the Mini Monsters cartridge. So here is what I came up with:

I used the Mini Monsters cartridge for the frog, Rock Princess for the girl & The Knot for the love. Papers were all scraps I had left over from other projects. Thanks for looking and remember, continue to Create A Craft Life ~

Here We Go.......

Well, if you've stumbled across my new blog...Welcome... I'm glad you're here. I'm kind of new to paper crafting, although I've made invitations for years, it's nothing like the world of all things paper that I'm about to dive into now. Santa was sweet enough to bring be a Cricut Expression for Christmas this year that I've been wanting for a few years (Thank You Santa!). So now that I have my Cricut set up I'm ready to use it.

In the last few weeks I've been partaking in my second favorite hobby, finding Great deals on crafting items I would like to own but are not items necessarily in my budget. I've been searching high & low for the best deals I can find on those addicting Cricut cartridges. Am I really the only one that has no self control??? I tend to watch cartridges on Ebay, fully knowing that I shouldn't even be looking at them because I'm still feeling the after effects of Christmas. BUT.... I can't help it, so what's a girl to do?

Someone on Facebook mentioned a website called Paper Crafting Pro that was having a great deal on Cricut cartridges, so I went to take a peek. Let's just say a peek turned into a gander, that turned into a 2 day spree. BUT, let me explain the reasoning behind this. You see, Paper Crafting Pro is a subscription based website, but they give you a 2 day free, yes I said FREE trial and you can purchase immediately without ever becoming a member, but let me say this. For the absolutely AMAZING deals they have, you'll want to become a member of their site, Promise!

Are you ready to see the Damage....???

Winter Wonderland, Just because, Winter Frolic, Weddings, Sweethearts, Superman,

Straight From The Nest, Simply Charmed, The Know, Paisley, Nifty Fifties & Give a Hoot 

& all 3 different size Cricut cutting  mats. 

Now please keep in mind a few things.... The cartridges were only $15-$17 ea...... Did you hear that, let me say it again, $15-$17/ea ....... And the mats were so inexpensive that it would have been silly for me to pass them up since I need new ones. For the 12 cartridges, 3 different size mats (2/pack) including shipping was $216 and when you consider each of the cartridges are on average $20 on Ebay to $89 on other sites, I think I got a GREAT deal!  The only negative thing I have to say is that after I placed my order, I realized that I doubled up on a cartridge I already had. So I called their customer service about 3-4 hours after placing the order to let them know and their CSR said she would call me back & let me know if she could switch out the duplicated cart, but she never called me back. Although IF had I been paying attention to what I had already bought, it wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Before I close this first entry out, I wanted to Thank You for coming by my blog. This is all new for me, but it's something I've wanted to do for a very long time. I have been crafting ever since I could remember starting with my mom and then with my boys. Crafting is therapy for me, it REALLY is. It's the one outlet that allows me to just relax and regroup. 

Along with the crafting, I want to be able to share what I enjoy crafting and I want to be inspired by others as well which is why I'm starting this blog.  I'm not promising that my blog will be like a lot of the other paper crafting blogs that are chalked full of different products & information, but I will try to make it an enjoyable time when you come by. I honestly may share more than my crafting, and I may get off topic at times but I will promise you a few things. I love to make people laugh and I love to laugh as well, so this will be a very light hearted positive blog. I'm at a new place in my life where I'm really trying to live my life in a positive way by being positive for my family & friends and trying to encourage others around me to be positive and find what really makes them happy. I've never really kept a blog although I started one a few years ago, it was very short lived after I found out my mom had breast cancer. So this is a 2nd attempt to write about what I love doing. I plan on trying to post at least a few times a week if not everyday and I Promise, not every entry will be this long winded :) Sooooo if you're up to the insanity, then I'm SOOOOO glad you're here!!!

P.s. - If there are certain blog rules that I'm not following, please email me and let me know, I don't want the blog police to be called on me just yet ;). Have a Fantastic weekend, and continue create the life of your dreams ~