Winning!

Everyday Cricut (see button on right side bar) has weekly giveaways available on their site.  In order to enter all you have to do is comment on the posts made that week.  The more posts you commnet on the more entried you get.  Thats it.  Pretty simple.  Last weeks giveaway was a Scrap'n Easel.

 (http://www.cricutcartridgestorage.com/scrapneasel.htm)

I'd never seen this before, but it really intrigued me.  What an interesting way to help with your page layout.  I really wanted to win so I made sure to comment on all the posts for the week.  Then this past weekend was so busy that I completely forgot about this giveaway until I was going through my emails this morning and was looking at the updates and saw that I had WON!  I can not wait to get this item and start working on my wedding page layouts!

Wedding Shower Card

I finally had a chance to sit down and really use the new Cricute Expression I bought.  Lol, don't worry, I did get some use out of it when it first got delivered.  I messed around with it a bit and made some pretty plain Easter Cards just to get the feel of the machine and all its features.  My mother-in-law also made some use out of it when she was here last weekend, cutting out some letters and some animals.  I made this card for my cousin's wedding shower which is tomorrow.

Here is the front of the card.  I used the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge for the image, as well as the background.  The embellishments are Jolee's Boutique Wedding Gem Flowers.  The small pearls on the ribbons I actually popped off the Jolee Flower stickers.

This is the inside of the card.  The background cut out is from the Storybook cartridge.  Again the pearls were popped off the Jolee's Flower stickers.  The quote is from an DCMV Vellum Quote 3' x 6" Stack, either the Wedding & Romance one or Love and Friendship, I can't remember which one it ended up coming out of.

This picture gives you a better view of the layering and 3D effect onthe front of the card.

The matching envelope.  I know the letters on this one arent the best, they arent the same size, nor are the lined up straight.  But, Im still getting use to using the machine.  I know there is on option when you are cutting to make sure all the letters get cut the same finished size, but I didnt think to use that when I cut these letters.  Oops.

Over all I am pretty happy with my first Cricut expression project.  Hopefully she will like it.  We will find out tomorrow.

Crochet Elephant

Back when I bought the dragon pattern from 'DeliciousCrochet' on Etsy, I also bought this elephant pattern for my sister.  She grew up collecting elephants and I thought it might be a good project for her.  A few years ago I taught her the basics of crocheting and then, like me, she taught herself how to read and follow patterns.  However, she struggled to put the pieces together to make the final product.  So, she came to me.  With my help and some instruction she was able to creat her first amigurumi. 

His nose turned out longer then it should have.  Lol.

For a first project, I think it turned out pretty good.

Scrapbook Mega Meet in Novi Michigan

This weekend is the Scrapbook Mega Meet in Novi.  I just heard about this a few weeks ago, but apparently this is an annual event that has been going on since 2000.  Essentially its a convention at the Suburban Collection Showplace (formally the Rock Financial Showplace) with venders from all over the country selling great scrapbooking/card making items.  They also have an improptu cropping area and classes you can sign up for, as well an a crop session from 6pm til midnight.

My mother-in-law (Kim) and I decided we wanted to go and see what it was like.  This being our first time, we didnt pre-register or sign up for any classes.  We figured we check things out, and depending how things went maybe go next year and sign up for some classes. 

I wasnt really expecting very much.  I didnt want to build it up to be something great and then end up being disappointed.  I thought we would go spend 2 hours or so looking around and go home.  Boy was I wrong!  We got there at 10am and didnt leave until almost 4!  I came across several items that you wouldnt find in your every day scrapbook store.  Im really glad I was limited in the amount of money I could spend, otherwise I would have gone on a huge scrapbooking shopping spree.  I did however end up buying a few page layouts and some interesting page dynamics.  Ill be sure to post some of the items I make in the up coming weeks.  I am really excited to try them out! 

What I was most looking forward to about this event was being able to check out the Original Scrapbox.  I forgot how I originally stumbled across this AMAZING scrapbook storage system, but its been a few years and I am DYING to get one.  Being able to see one in person just made me want one all the much more.  Unfortunately they are currently out of my price range.  But some day....

Ultimately Kim and I had a great time and decided we would need to return next year.  We decided we are going to make sure to pre-register.  Pre-registering allows you to get into the venue an hour early for shopping and to register for classes before they fill up.  Can't wait!

For information on the convention check out their web page http://www.megameet.com/

For information on the Scrapbox check out their web page http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/