MY HERO WEARS COMBAT BOOTS!

I've been thinking about this layout for a long time. My son is currently in the middle of his 2nd tour in Iraq. I miss him terribly and I've worked on this layout since my last retreat in October but have been unable to finish it becuase I could not decide how to lay it out. My hubby recently bought me 5 new cartridges from Cricut Machine.com when they had that great sale a few weeks ago and I got the Stand and Salute cartridge. I was not disappointed! I love the combat boots. I had to leave in the middle of the boot portion of the project to buy just the right laces and it took forever to get all of the holes the right size because I don't have the big crop-a-dile, only the small one and it would not reach all of the holes! But it was so worth it. It's not perfect by any means, but I am happy with it and I know my sonny boy will be happy with it too!

For some reason the photo below uploads and is rotated as below.....I've deleted it and uploaded it multiple times and it still uploads this way. If anyone knows how I can correct this, please let me know. The photo on the page below is of my Sweet Boy! But don't tell him I called him that!

My son is the one on the far left in the top photo and the 2nd from the left on the front row in the bottom photo. I had to take a 2nd glance at the bottom photo when I printed it out because at first glance he looked like Tom Cruise with that expression on his face! If only......LOL!

USC GAMECOCK LONG ALLS

This is a jon jon I made for my daughters best friend who's baby is turning one next week. Of course she is a big USC fan (but I won't hold that against her), so I had to try this embroidery design on Bryce's outfit. It is called feathermetto which is a cross between a gamecock and the SC Palmetto tree.

These pictures aren't great, but I think you can get the idea. I hope it fits little man! I can't wait to see him sporting this outfit.

I used a black micro check gingham and white broad cloth. The pattern I used was the Childrens Corner Johnny.

LIVE SIMPLY - SCRAPLIFTED LAYOUT

I simply love everything Monique Griffith! I've been collecting the pieces to make this layout and although I didn't have the reddish Bazzill paper, I used my imagine to try and replicate it and the paper for the leaves.

I admit that I scraplifted every single piece of this layout. There were very few deviations from the original layout on www.monkeydoodlecricut.blogspot.com. But I loved this layout so much that I just had to try and reproduce it down to the last detail.

It took me 5 hours just to make the color combinations I needed for the paper and then cut each die cut for this layout but it was so worth the effort.

I used a different ribbon than Monique did. I pop dotted the ladybugs and I gave my little skunk a green eye, but those were my only creative elements to the layout. I'll admit that I have no imagination or creativity of my own so I must create based on someone elses talent.

I hope that Monique at www.monkeydoodlecricut.blogspot.com will know that my scraplifting was because of her wonderful talent and creativity and my grand-daughters photos will be absolutely beautiful on here.

On a personal note to Monique, I hope your surgery this week has gone well. I appreciate your work even more during the struggles you've gone through this summer. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I wish you a speedy recovery.

OCTOBER MAGGIE VALLEY SWARM

This weekend was our last swarm for 2010....we won't be having another one until the early spring of 2011. What a great time we had again this month.

Originally there were only 3 people in the group coming so I brought my hubby to cook for us! The food was wonderful and the company was fabulous. Below is a photo of me and my husband (pardon my bad hair, this photo was taken around 10pm!).

On Friday night we had a pasta dish my husband made in his pressure cooker! It was fabulous. On Saturday morning we had waffles and a breakfast casserole. And Saturday night we had Roast with potatoes and carrots, again made in my husbands pressure cooker! There was lots of candy, cupcakes and homemade bread too.


This is a group photo of everyone that came. From left to right is Brenda, Trish, me, Laura & Shyra. Brenda also brought her mom but she was already in bed and didn't come down for the photo. My husband took the picture for us. It is a little bit blurry, sorry!

This is a photo of the main room with the fireplace and tables. I had just received my new Imagine the day before I came and I didn't even open the box until I got to the cabin on Friday! I haven't attempted the upgrade yet but will work on that when I'm confident the bugs are out.

There was another table upstairs in the loft and even though we can't all see each other we can talk to anyone that may be in the loft area still. It has been a wonderful place to get together and oh so relaxing!

This will be our last swarm until the spring because the weather up here is too unpredictable and with the holidays coming we decided to wait until March for our next swarm. So if any of you are interested in joining our group, there is room to spare, so come join us! The fee includes room and board. You can email me at coggie4556@bellsouth.net if you are interested.

HALLOWEEN GOODY TABLE

This is the candy bar that we created for my grand-daughters 3rd birthday party. I made the "BOO" banner to put on the front of the table and then decorated the table with a black candelabra, little black coffins and tootsie roll pops covered to look like pumpkin faced ghosts. The childrend loved it and had a great time filling their bags with candy, plastic vampire teeth, spider rings and halloween themed pencils.

This is the candelabra I got at Michaels for $14.99.

This is another photo of the table with all the goodies and the banner. I made the banner with my Imagine. It was very easy and I used 2 different halloween packs I bought at Michaels.

This is a spider tee light holder I got at Michaels as well with a fake tee light in it.

These are the pumpkin face ghost suckers I made. At the Maggie Valley Swarm in September, the hostess, Laura showed me how to make these. They were a huge hit with the kids and extremely easy to make. You use a coffee filter, a stamp for the face and twine to tie it on.

MY WEEKEND RETREAT

I went to a weekend retreat in Maggie Valley, NC this weekend. I didn't know any of the women there but boy did we make friends fast! We had a wonderful time. Laura is the organizer, she is in the front row. Brenda is just behind her and Shyra is behind Brenda on your right and I'm on the left and at the top of the stairs is Judy!

I cannot tell you how fortunate I feel to have found this little group. The cabin is absolutely beautiful and it was only about an hour and 45 minutes away from where I live.

Of course I packed too much but I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it!

This is a photo of the workspace that Laura created. She moved the sofa and chairs against the wall and put the wooden coffee table on the covered porch. She put 4 tables together to create a large workspace for each of us. There was a 5th table in front of the stairs.

I debated all week, prior to my trip, whether to risk taking my Imagine. I decided to wrap it in bubble wrap and buckle it into the seat and it worked extremely well. I took a picture for inspiration for others. When I got to the cabin and set the machine up I was fully prepared to recalibrate but it was not necessary.

I worked on 2 double layouts and I made a lovely party banner for my sweet 3 year old grand-daughters birthday in a couple of weeks.

Laura made sure there was plenty of food, drinks and snacks. She cooked a home made lasagna that we baked Friday night, a breakfast caserole Saturday morning and chilli in the crockpot Saturday night.

There will be another retreat in October (I can't wait) and then there won't be another one until March, 2011. If any of you live near Maggie Valley, NC and are interested in attending this swarm, you can find details at www.borntoscrapbook.blogspot.com.

LITTLE STINKER

This is my first card with my Imagine! I like the card and I still have a lot to learn with the Imagine but I can see 2 tiny little imperfections in this card and it is driving me crazy!!!! Can you see them?

I know you can't tell it in the card, but on the wording "Little Stinker" I used POP Dots to make it 3 dimensional.

The background is from Nursery Tails as well as the light green backing of my little skunk. The skunk of course if from Create a Critter.

I loved using the color fill. That is really great.

I'm also using Recollections paper which is about 65 lb paper and I think I am going to get some Bazzill paper at my LSS or some Georgia Pacific from Walmart. When I checked the other day the Georgia Pacific paper is 110 lb and I think that would work better for cards.



P.S. My 2 imperfections......my little skunk man is CROOKED!!! and my background paper is just slightly crooked. Overall, I'm happy with the look and it didn't take me 2 hours to make it. LOL.