Added 3x3 envelope Gypsy file

You can find it to the right with the Gypsy and DS files.

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Love the iPad

I got an iPad yesterday. I am still trying to figure it out but I think it is awesome and so little. I got it mostly for email and browsing but there are so many apps for it, I may fill it up quickly. It is super cute though. I have a leather case for it I will probably embellish.

On another note, I have been working on Christmas cards and holiday gifts for co-workers. I made a Gypsy file for envelopes for 3x3 cards. I like making these cards for people so they have a quick way to send a thank you to someone. I will post it the next time I sync my Gypsy.

I am not going to get an Imagine from Provocraft. I understand the appeal but somehow taking away the fun with patterned paper and figuring out how to arrange patterns is one of the parts I like the best of traditional scrapbooking. I think I will be happy with my Expression and Gypsy for a while.

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Rescue Dog

Saturday, my daughter and I rescued a dog from an abusive owner. This puppy was left outside on a short lease with no shelter all day despite the temperature. I drove by her in the front yard of her house every day. I stopped a couple of times to make sure she was OK. On Saturday they were trying to give her away on the street because no one was playing with her anymore. I took the dog and all her belongings. She is super sweet, but I knew I couldn't keep her. I think I have found her a forever home, though. Today she got fixed and got all her shots, etc. Here is a picture. Isn't she cute?

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What happened to July

Wow, I have been bad about posting things. Been very busy with work, my daughter graduated from college and is back home, and we are still fighting with FEMA about our May flood damage.

I have been busy scrapping, though. Went to a local Crop for the Cure event and it was a lot of fun and a great fundraiser. Went to my normal monthly Saturday crop and been doing some crafts with my daughter. Somehow the time just runs away.

Some of my fun things were: getting a pink ATG gun, finding cropchocolate.com and buying too much stuff, starting to scrap my two 2010 trips to Disney World, buying more Cricut cartridges (finally found Meow in the 4th Walmart I tried), and generally busy but can't really account for all the time.

I have been doing a lot of designing on my Gypsy and making more word books. I need to post some of my files.

That is it for now. Oh, and it keeps getting over 100 here in Nashville. I am ready for fall.

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New Gypsy Files

Just added some new Gypsy files for download (on the right).

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What Happened to June?

Things have been crazy and sometimes I just don't think about blogging. Our first floor is mostly back to normal after the flood. The flooring is all tile now. I am done with carpet. We finished baseboards and paint touch-up, moved things around, threw a lot of stuff away, and generally started over. It looks nice.

My daughter graduated from college and is home looking for a job. It is nice to have her back.

We took another trip to Disney in June (me and the kids). We went for the Star Wars Weekends and had a great time though it was soooooo hot and humid. Don't have another trip planned, which is not normal for me. I am thinking about it though.

Getting back into scrapbooking. Was doing a lot of card making for a while. Trying really hard not to go on a spree at WalMart for the new Lite Cricut cartridges.

Things are pretty quiet this summer. I am the only one in the house actually working this summer.

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What a week!! Nashville Flood of 2010

We were one of the thousands of victims of the Nashville May Day Flood of 2010. Our damage was not catastrophic but we had the first floor flooded, which ruined the carpet and required buckets, pumping, squeegie, etc. to get the water out. We had fabulous volunteers come and help us get 1000 sqft of carpet out and pulled to the curb. Then Servpro came to do the treatments and fans and dehumidifiers. Hopefully there will not be too much damage to belongings and furniture when we start assessing it.

While I have family relatively close, none of them helped us. We thankfully live in East Nashville where volunteers had already organized by the time the rain stopped. We would have been in bad shape without this help. We donated items to their work but it could never repay the assistance they provided to us. Families in my neighborhood lost everything and barely escaped with their lives (rescued by boats). While I am disappointed my family could not help, these volunteers continue to be outstanding in the assistance to strangers.

Finally, happy Mother's Day. My step mom lives here and once they returned from a visit to Florida, they were here helping up clean, sweep, scrape, reorganize, and take to the trash. Cooked us a much-need fresh meal and great company getting us out side the house. There is still a lot of work to do but we are OK and the rest is just stuff. Having hugs and support close makes a huge difference.

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MPS NSD Challenge #9

This challenge was to create a shape project.

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MPS NSD Challenge #8

This challenge was to make a monochromatic project.

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MPS NSD Challenge #7

This challenge was to make something masculine.

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MPS NSD Challenge #3

This challenge was to do/use something we don't normally do. I used Core'dinations Whitewash paper, ran it through the Cuttlebug, and sanded the embossing so the purple came through the whitewash side.

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MPS NSD Challenge #2

This was a challenge to create something using scraps.

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National Scrapbooking Day

I am going to try to participate in some of the challenges for NSD. Here is a submission for My Pink Stamper's Challenge #1. My scrapbook layout featuring my mother and why I began scrapping.

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So Much Going On (sort of)

Hello all. I haven't posted anything in a while. Been a bit busy. I just got home from a weekend scrapbooking retreat in Bon Aqua, Tennessee. There were almost 30 ladies there from around middle Tennessee. We had a great time. Except for the tornado warnings all day Saturday, the weather was great and so was the facility, the food, the company... I got some projects finished and started working on wedding photos to finally (after 27 years) start our wedding album.

Lots of scrapping opportunities coming up and a chance to make more new friends. My daughter is graduating from college soon and we are adding on a weekend in Gatlinburg. Should be relaxing and can't wait to go to the Scrapbook Superstore if my family lets me.

Welcome retreat friends if you are coming to partake of my Gypsy and Design Studio files. I will try to get more files posted in the next week. I have so many and I am not sure if anyone would like any of them.

That's it for now. TTFN.

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Long Time, No Blog

So, it has been a while. Frankly nothing too exciting going on. Work, home, scrap... I have another weekend retreat coming up - 3 whole days of scrapping and no where else to go. Sounds great. My quest to obtain all the Basic Grey paper collections continues. Got 2 of the latest ones - Kioshi and Green at Heart. Very pretty. Can't bring myself to use any of it. Sad.

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Disney - day 6

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down.

Today it rained all day with tornado warnings and torrential downpours. We went to a great scrapbook store here called Scrappy Boutique. It is in the Florida Mall area and they had ALL the new products from the winter CHA. They had the new Basic Grey collections and had the older collections on clearance!!! I was in heaven. The lady there was super nice (and wants to move to Nashville) so we spent some time there chatting and shopping. Adam was very patient. Then we went to the biggest Goodwill store I had ever seen. Adam got a bunch of record albums there for his collection.

On the way back we stopped at a Perkins for lunch and headed back to the hotel for a little nap. Still raining. After our nap we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Earl of Sandwich and dessert at Ghiradelli. Yum yum. Still raining.

Tomorrow we check out and start the yucky drive home. Sad day. My puppy Paco licked the phone when I talked to him. He loves his mommy.

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Disney - day 5

Today was a crazy day.

We started out going to Hollywood Studios. It is a short walk from the Boardwalk but we went out the wrong door so it was a looooong walk. We got there a bit after opening and went straight to the Fastpass for Toy Story. Next we went on the Aerosmith Coaster with a 10 minute wait. Next was the American Idol Experience. It is neat - they try to make it feel like you are really there during a taping. The 3 singers were so-s0. After that, we went on the Great Movie Ride - one of my personal favorites. Lunch was at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. This place is so much fun and the food is awesome. After lunch, we did the Little Mermaid show and then it was time for our Toy Story ride. Adam had never done it before so I whooped him but we had fun. We didn't really feel like doing anything else at the Studios so we took the bus to the Animal Kingdom.

It was supposed to be warm today but it was cloudy and breezy so it was actually quite nice. We got there just in time to run to the Nemo Musical. This is one of the best shows at Disney IMHO. It is fabulous. Next was a 20 minute wait to ride Everest and then a jolt over to the Kilimanjaro Safari before it closed. Lots of animals out - including the lion waiting for his dinner.

Our dinner reservation was at Kouzzina - Cat Cora's new restaurant at the Boardwalk. We had a 6:40 seating and it was about right. I found only one thing on the menu I would eat - flank steak and potatoes. Adam got the veal shank and brussel sprouts. Our service was HORRIBLE. The guy was not good at all and couldn't answer any questions. He was so slow. My steak was over cooked and weirdly seasoned. I ate about half of it. The potatoes were good but they were just sauteed redskins. Adam said his meal was good. We didn't get any appetizer or dessert or drinks other than soft drinks. Our bill was $55 before tax and tip. The restaurant is nothing special but our service was bad. All the entrees were between $20 and $30 with one side. Everything else was extra. Just getting dinner we were there over an hour. We didn't even look at the dessert menu. On our way out, we were asked by a family if it was good. We told them about our wait and the so-so food and service and sent them to the Flying Fish instead. So, I would say, could be $$$$ but not necessarily depending on what you order. Server was bad. Bread was awesome...

Best meal of the trip was definitely Narcoossa's at the grand Floridian.

Tomorrow is 80% chance of rain so we are going scrapbook shopping around Orlando and who knows what.

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Disney - day 4

Today was Sea World. Adam and I had not been there in years. We got up early and went to the Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast. Yummy muffins and coffee. Next we loaded the GPS and drove to Sea World. Unfortunately, of the 2 big rides there, one was broken all day (the Kraken) and the other was working intermittently (the Manta). We saw all the animal encounters and some of the shows. Of course we spent some time at the Penguin Encounter. The best show was the one with the pets they had adopted from shelters. Dogs, cats, mice, birds, even a skunk. A very cute show but I would like to know how the trained the cats. We also saw a dolphin show that was cool and of course the Shamu show. We saw the Clyde and Seymour show too which was very funny. It was not cold but not sunny. We wore jackets all day but my scalp is so sun burned. We got back before dinner.

We had dinner at the Flying Fish on the Boardwalk. It was good but our best meal so far is still at Narcoossa's. After dinner, we rode the boat to EPCOT to meet the Owner's Locker guy. Do a Google search for them if you come to Orlando/Disney a lot. They provide a great service. Now we are back in the room watching Lost...

Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios and dinner as Cat Cora's new restaurant on the Boardwalk called Kouzzina.

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Disney - day 3

Hello, here is my report for day 3 of our trip to Orlando.

We actually slept until almost 8:30, which is unheard of for us. Today we rode the boat from the Boardwalk to EPCOT. When we got to EPCOT (at the back door), we headed over to the land and seas, stopping first to visit Figment. That is one hokey ride but I kinda like it. Walked right on (the car in front of us was empty). Next we went to ride Living with the Land. Huge line but went quick. Then we got a bit stuck (crawling along actually) but we eventually finished. They had beautiful cotton growing this time. We skipped Soarin' and went to the Seas to ride in a clam shell to look for Nemo. Finally found him so we went and walked around the aquarium a bit. Next stop was back to World Showcase to eat some fish and chips in England. Yummo. After lunch, we walked the rest of the way around the world and headed to Minnie's butterfly garden. Not many butterflies - live ones, that is. Lots of dead ones though. Very sad. Next stop was Ellen's Universe of Energy. I like this ride and it is 45 minutes in the air conditioning - it was rather warm today. Our last ride was Spaceship Earth - another favorite. After that, we went shopping at Mouse Gears. I got a new hoodie Jillian is seriously going to want.

Dinner today was at the California Grill at the Contemporary. This was the most expensive meal so far but yummy. The food was good and we splurged on dessert. I got meat (again) and Adam got fish (again). I think I liked the fillet at Narccoossa's last night better. We got to watch the sunset from the top of the Contemporary with a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom and the Grand Floridan. After dinner we went out on the observation deck and tried to take pictures of the castle in the dark. Not sure how they came out.

Tomorrow is Sea World (penguins - yeah!).

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Disney - day 2

Greetings from the happiest place on earth!

The Princess Marathon was this morning. We saw the stragglers as the bus went by followed quickly by the clean-up crews.

We tried to sleep in today but I can't sleep past 7 anymore. We had breakfast in the room and got ourselves ready and out to the bus by 9 to go to the Magic Kingdom. We immediately got on the train once we entered the park and did Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion in 30 minutes. We also did the Hall of Presidents, which we had never done before. Off to It's a Small World and Snow White before stopping at Pinocchio's place for lunch. Then it was a walk to Space Mountain (which was redone - the queue is different with games you can play along the way and it is a lot darker; I think the cars are new too) and a ride on the TTA (my favorite). Next stop was The Laugh Floor, which I love. That interactive show is hilarious. We had a great spot for the parade. It featured some of the volunteers at the park and then I think the parade is kinda new. It had new music and some things I didn't remember. After the parade, we shopped down Main Street and and then got on the boat to the Grand Floridian for dinner.

The Grand Floridian is gorgeous! I took a lot of pictures as we walked the grounds and explored the lobby area. Very pretty place and so many kids there! We went to Narcoossaa's for dinner. OMG, it was outstanding. Adam had some fish we never hear of, which he said was good. I got a fillet with yummy mashed potatoes, spinach, and green beans. For dessert, Adam got Coconut and Key Lime creme brulle (2 separate dishes) and I got a super dark chocolate mousse cake thingy. Yum-yum. We shared deserts and then tried to get to EPCOT for the Jose Feliciano show at 7:45, but we didn't get back on the bus from the MK until around that time. Instead we came back to the room for the Academy Awards.

Tomorrow is EPCOT and the Flower and Garden Festival and dinner in the Contemporary at the California Grill. TTFN.

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Disney - Day 1

Hello all. Here is my report from Disney for day 1.

We arrived this afternoon after spending the night in THE WORST hotel on the planet south of Atlanta. We got here at 2:30 pm with about a tablespoon of gas left. Thankfully, our room at the Boardwalk was ready. We are on the first floor about 20 yards from the bus stop. I sat on my patio and watched the EPCOT fireworks. That was a nice surprise. The room is a studio and it is one that has just been renovated. Very pretty with pink walls! After we went out and filled the gas tank, we rested in the room and then walked around the lake to the Yacht Club for our dinner reservation at Cape May. It is a buffet - mostly seafood - but there was stuff for me - the carnivore. It was good but probably a bit high at $31 per person. I did have an adventure when I ate one of the BBQ ribs and my lips immediately got a buzzy feeling. I must be allergic to some spice they had in there. Didn't stop me from having some yummy flan for dessert.

After dinner, we took the bus to Downtown Disney to get the obligatory scrapbook and souvenir shopping out of the way. Found almost everything I wanted. Need to hunt down some H2O body wash and a cute purse for my Gypsy. I got the 2010 12x12 album and the paper pack for 2010.

Day 2 is the Magic Kingdom and dinner at the Grand Floridian.

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Goin' to "the World"!

I am going to Orlando on Saturday. Doing Disney (of course), Sea World, scrapbooking shopping, and, because my husband is going with me - plenty of eating at expensive restaurants. I need a little break, so I am excited to spend a week of downtime with the hubby and no kids.

Also wanted to plug cropchocolate.com. They were a one-deal-a-day site but now have several deals each down. Very addictive but great prices and they have Basic Grey Woohoo! Great site is you like to get some of the older products super cheap.

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Happy Birthday, Max

Today is my son's 16th birthday. I made him the cutest card with a hedgehog stamp from Stampin' Up!. He loves hedgehogs. I can't believe my baby is 16. The years go by so fast. Made him a red velvet cake yesterday and pink pancakes for breakfast today (he doesn't like pink but I thought they were cute).

Been working on miscellaneous scrapbook stuff. Made a few "guy" birthday cards and made new Gypsy files for my 2010 Disney trips for cover page titles. Going to try and finish up some pages in process to get them cleaned up.

Pre-ordered some new Basic Grey collections. I love BG. Also found 2 new collections from Heidi Grace at Joann's. I love her stuff. It is so cute and I was sad when she left Fiskar's but now she is with Colorbok so we get her stuff again.

Happy scrappin'!

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Snow and Scrapbooks and Sons - Oh My

It is snowing again in Nashville with dangerous ice on the roads. Luckily no school due to President's Day. I worked from home so I didn't have to risk the drive.

Last weekend I went to an all-weekend crop. It was my first and was so much fun. I got 55 pages done for two 2009 trips to Disney. I had a great time with all the other ladies and looking at all their great work. I also met another person who does scrapbook retreats so I am off to another one in April. So exciting. I was able to whip out lots of titles very quickly using my Gypsy.

My son turns 16 on Sunday. He is my baby and I can't believe how quickly the years go by.

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Snow and Other Stuff

Boy, did we get snow! It started this morning and still hasn't stopped. It is supposed to snow all night and into tomorrow afternoon. It is beautiful to watch. My Yorkie-poo, Paco, was so funny. I opened the blinds to watch the snow and he stood there transfixed watching it. Then he started barking and growling at the snow falling. Weird dog. I did take him out for a while with his cute sweater on. He did run around a lot and played. We will go out again tomorrow.

In other news, I am getting ready for my first weekend crop next weekend. Friday at 11 I leave to head down to one of our state parks and spend the weekend until Sunday at 2 scrapping and whatever. Never been to one before so I am excited. Not sure how much to bring but I have put a couple of projects together to work on. I will take my Gypsy and hope someone there brings their Cricut. If not, I will design my titles and embellishments and cut them when I get home. Should get home in time for the Super Bowl.

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Greetings!

Well, Nashville is supposed to get snow tomorrow. That means all the schools with close and the city will shut down, and Kroger will be out of milk, bread and eggs. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, it astounds me how unprepared for snow the south is even though we seem to get some every winter.

Haven't done much scrapping lately. I have been fixing up my small scrap room. I got some shelving and storage cubes and started organizing things better and getting everything off my table and chair. I have joined a Stampin' Up club so that is fun. I am trying not to buy any new supplies. I am still on my mission to buy all the Basic Grey collections I can. Of course they announced 4 new collections at the CHA conference last week. I will be looking online for good prices on those when they start shipping. Basic Grey is my favorite designer. I do not generally like the foofoo papers and vintage stuff a lot of designers are putting out. I also love Heidi Grace stuff and glad she has hooked up with Colorbok.

I am going to my first weekend crop next week. So excited but not sure what to expect.

Have fun, y'all!

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Updating my Cricut files

I have been working on adding more of my word books done with the Gypsy or Design Studio to my blog. I have also changed where I store the files. I have several word books I did with the Gypsy before they implemented the multiple page files. I need to work on getting those fixed. I created 3 new files that contain the rectangles for word books. There are 3 files - one each for 4, 5, and 6 letter books. You just need to weld a letter and any other shapes you want to the rectangles and the spacing should be fine. Just make sure each letter is 2 inches wide and about 5.6" in height. If you want to have the letter portion shadowed, choose a cartridge font that has the shadow feature. Weld the shadow version to the rectangle and then print each letter again individually in the non-shadow to highlight them on each page.

Please leave a comment if you find these files useful. I love doing the word books and have a bunch them I have created that I can share if there is more interest.

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Snow

So, I live in a place that does get snow but not much. Though we have gotten 7 inches in a couple of hours, this was a fluke. We do get ice storms though and those are no fun. As a result, they forecast either a lot of snow and we get none or they forecast none and we get enough to shut down the city (this could be as little at 2"). They shut down schools if snow is predicted.

This week, they predicted 2-4" of snow starting early Thursday morning. All schools were closed Wednesday night. I get up - no snow. It starts snowing around noon and we get enough to shut down the city (maybe 1-1.5"). Friday, the roads are still bad - schools closed again and it snows again. Today it is snowing but little additional accumulation. Crazy for a girl who grew on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio and there was snow from October to March.

Obligatory scrapbook reference - working through my Little Red Scrapbook monthly kits. Eight down and 4 to go.

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My cutie-patootie puppy

This is Paco. He is a 2 year old Yorkie-poo and he is so smart. He rules the roost here, which is funny because we have 2 cats - a 13 YO female (15 pounds) and a 10 YO male (22 pounds). Paco weighs 6.5 pounds. We call him the enforcer. Unfortunately, his momma (me) dresses him up and he doesn't like it much. This is his ladybug Halloween costume.

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Happy New Year!

I have been super busy traveling and enjoying time with family. We spent a week in Alabama with my mom, sister and brother. Then we came home and my other brother came up for a few days. It was a great 2 weeks.

And I got so much scrapbooking done. I belonged to a kit club called "Little Red Scrapbook" for a year and had 12 months of kits. I took them and all my supplies down to Alabama with me. My daughter and I did 47 pages over 2 days! My niece, who is 8, is totally into scrapping (thanks to me). I got her 2 8x8 kits for Christmas - one for dogs and one fore cats - so she was busy right with us. It was so much fun.

I have also been busy with the Gypsy. I am working on a word book for a swap happening on the Cricut message boards. It is a beach theme and I am enjoying trying some more complicated designs on my Gypsy.

Here is wishing everyone has a great 2010 and has plenty of time to scrap!

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