Happy 3rd Birthday to a Special Little Boy!

Today is my nephew's 3rd birthday!  I can't believe he's 3 already!  It doesn't seem like that long ago we were at the hospital celebrating his "Birth" day.  Yesterday, the family got together and partied Diego-style in celebration of his special day.  I made him a fun card and unique gift inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest.  {Are any of you as incredibly addicted to Pinterest as I am??}   The gift is a 20 questions book that he can record answers to various questions each year and add a picture to watch how he grows over the years and how his answers to the questions change.  I can't wait to do this with my little guy, too!

{{WARNING: This post is very picture-heavy from here on!}}

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Card Catch-Up

Happy Holidays, Cricuteers!

I know I have been MIA lately.  Life has been so extremely busy between work, family / friend functions, the holidays, spending time with my little guy, etc. etc. etc.  The days just go by so fast.  My son turned 5 months old this week, and lately, I've been telling myself that spending time with him is the most important thing in my life right now.  As much as I'd love to be in my craft room sometimes or doing other things, I don't want to look back and feel like I deprived either of us of that time together.  My new motto is... "The dishes can wait.  The dust can settle.  I spending time with my little one while he is still little!"  I have managed to sneak some time in my scrap room while he's been sleeping or spending time playing with Daddy.  I just haven't had as much time for blogging.  So I thought I'd throw together a "catch-up" post of cards I've made recently.

Fun Birthday Card ~ front

{I LOVE this new style bow! So fun and easy!}

Fun Birthday Card ~ inside

Thanksgiving Card for my Grandma

Wedding Card / Gift Card Holder for my cousins ~ front

Wedding Card / Gift Card Holder for my cousins ~ inside

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Irrelephant Thank You

My family has a long standing obsession of sorts with elephants.  My great-grandparents owned, operated, and lived above a bar called the White Elephant Tavern in Wisconsin.  In the front window of the tavern, they kept 3"-4" tall statue of a white elephant.  The tavern has since been sold, but our family obsession with elephants lives on.  So when my godmother saw an adorable infant sleeper covered in an elephant pattern, she just had to buy it and send it to me for my son.  The colors on this thank-you card (which I will be sending her this week) were inspired by the colors on the sleeper.

Front

Inside

JD'S SCRAP-IPE

♥ Solid cardstock from my stash ~ Stampin' Up!, Recollections, Paper Studio

♥ Patterned paper ~ DCWV Animal Crackers Matstack

♥ Elephant cut @ 2.5" ~ Create A Critter
♥ Swiss Dots embossing folder ~ Cuttlebug

♥ Crystal Stickles

♥ Sentiment ~ made on my computer

♥ Buttons ~ Favorite Findings

♥ Bakers' Twine ~ Martha Stewart Crafts

♥ Chocolate Chip classic stamp pad ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Pumpkin Pie marker ~ Stampin' Up

CHALLENGES

♥ Paper Playtime ~ Challenge #60: Cricut Creations Thank You Projects
♥ the cuttlebug spot ~ Anything Goes

♥ More Than Favors ~ Wacky Wednesday #58: Buttons, Bling or Brads

♥ Bitten By The Bug 2 ~ Boy / Masculine Project

♥ My Creative Time ~ Throwback Thursday: Kid Friendly Project
♥ Die Cuttin' Divas ~ Challenge #40: Let's Be Thankful

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I found an amazing recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins on The Twinery's blog a while back.  They looked so yummy, I decided to make a double batch and share with friends / neighbors.  Each batch made 2 1/2 dozen muffins... so 5 dozen muffins later, I had PLENTY to share.  They were so good, I think I'm going to have to make some more to give to our families on Thanksgiving!  Gobble Gobble!

These pumpkin recipe cards / tags took a little creative thinking, but turned out so cute!.  First I decided how big I wanted my pumpkin to be using my Gypsy.  Then I typed up my recipe and formatted in MS Word to the right height / width / location on my cardstock.  After printing the recipe on plain white cardstock, I placed the cardstock face-down on my Cricut mat (because I needed to cut the pumpkin backwards - later on I realized I could have just "flipped" the pumpkin on my Gypsy).  Finally, after cutting all my pieces, I was able to put together these adorable pumpkin recipe cards.

Front

Back

Final Package Ready for Delivery

JD'S SCRAP-IPE

♥ Cardstock from my stash ~ Stampin' Up!, Recollections, Georgia Pacific

♥ Pumpkin ~ Create A Critter

♥ Early Espresso & White twine (from my stash!) ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ White gel pen

CHALLENGES

♥ Craft Your Passion ~ Challenge #83: Anything Goes + Brown

♥ My Craft Spot ~ Monday Challenge #32: Gobble 'til You Wobble

♥ Papercraft Star ~ Challenge #70: A Number

♥ Scrappy Moms Stamps ~ Terrific Tuesday Challenge: 3D with Twine and/or a Button

♥ Use It Tuesday ~ Cooking Up Fun

♥ Cooking With Cricut ~ Challenge #59: Fruits, Cornucopia, Harvest

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

P.S. I still have my Gypsy file and my MS Word recipe file.  If you would like a copy, please leave me a comment with your e-mail address, and I'd be happy to share!

Trick or Treat!

It's almost time for trick-or-treaters!  I love seeing all the little kids dressed up in their costumes.  This year, I will get to dress my own little guy up in his first costume (which we are keeping a top secret surprise until Halloween).  I can't wait!

I wanted to make something special for my nieces / nephews when they come trick-or-treating at my front door.  What do you think?

For the boys...

For the girls...

And even for the dog!

The body of the spider opens like a card...

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ cardstock ~ Recollections

♥ Spider Web embossing folder ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Spider ~ Mini Monsters cartridge

♥ Googly eyes

♥ Stardust Stickles

♥ Orange / Black Decorative Trim ~ Hobby Lobby

♥ Wilton Treat Bags

♥ Candy

Challenges:

♥ Getting Cricky ~ Halloween Treat Holders

♥ Cricut 360 ~ Create A Spooky Project with a Spider and Colors Purple, Green, and Orange

♥ Crafty Sprouts ~ Candy Goes Here

♥ My Craft Spot ~ 3D Halloween

♥ Papercraft Star ~ Halloween Trick or Treat

♥ Decorate to Celebrate ~ Challenge #11: Halloween Party

♥ More Than Favors ~ Wacky Wednesday #56: Halloween

♥ Cooking with Cricut ~ Challenge #56: Purple, Green, and/or sketch

♥ Bitten By The Bug 2 ~ Color Purple

♥ Scrapbookaholic by Abby ~ Dilo En Espanol Challenge #2 Orange & Black

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~ 

Birthday Wishes!

Today is my youngest sister's 17th birthday!  I can actually remember the day she was born.  I was 12.  Crazy!  Where does the time go?  Due to our crazy family schedules, we "half-celebrated" her birthday tonight.  We are going to "half-celebrate" again later this week or early next when we can all be together.  My plan was to give her a card tonight and her gift later, but I hit a creative block and by the time I found my scrappin' mojo, it was time to leave for dinner.  So now I'm not sure if I will give her this card or make her something different to go along with her gift.  We'll see...

FRONT

INSIDE

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Patterned cardstock ~ DCWV Dots, Stripes, & Plaids stack

♥ Textured cardstock ~ DCWV Brights & Jewels stack

♥ Cream cardstock ~ The Paper Company

♥ Cupcake cut at 2 1/2" ~ Sweet Treats cartridge

♥ Stamps ~ Stampin' Up! Tagtastic, Vintage Labels, & Happiest Birthday Wishes

♥ Curly Label punch ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Red Button ~ Favourite Findings -- Patriotic pack

♥ White / Natural cord from my stash

♥ Stardust & Black Diamond Stickles

♥ 1/8" Kiwi & Leaf ribbon ~ Offray

CHALLENGES:

♥ Die Cuttin' Divas ~ Challenge #36 National Dessert Day

♥ OWH Stars & Stamps ~ Masculine Card

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Halloween Wishes & Candy Corn Kisses

Just a quick card to share with you today...

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black, yellow, and orange cardstock ~ Recollections

♥ White cardstock ~ Georgia Pacific

♥ Halloween gingham paper ~ Random find from my single sheet collection

♥ Candy Corn ~ cut from Smiley Cards @ 3"

♥ Googly eyes
♥ Sentiment ~ done on my computer
♥ Journal Bracket punch ~ ek Success

♥ 5/8" Black grosgrain ribbon with white stitching ~ Hobby Lobby

♥ Stardust & Black Diamond Stickles

♥ Candy stamp ~ Pink By Design: Cute Halloween

♥ Basic Black stampin' pad ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Tangerine Tango & Daffodil Delight markers ~ Stampin' Up!

Challenges

♥ My Craft Spot ~ Color Challenge: Black with Orange or Purple

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

EEK! It's a Spider!

For those of you who don't know, I am NOT a spider person - in any way, shape, or form.  When I see one, my heart starts racing, and I immediately freak out.  Not quite shrieking-jumping-up-and-down freaking out, but more like standing-still, won't-move-because-I'm-afraid-the-spider-will-disappear-before-my-husband-can-kill-it freaking out.  So for me to make a card featuring a spider... well... that's a big thing for me.  But I saw this Sizzix embossing folder and really wanted to play with it... and you can't have a web without a spider... so I made a spider card.

What do you think??

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:
♥ Black and red cardstock ~ Recollections
♥ White cardstock ~ Georgia Pacific
♥ Spider Web embossing folder ~ Sizzix / Stampin' Up!
♥ Diamond Stickles
♥ Spider ~ cut from Smiley Cards (@ 1.75")
♥ Googly eyes
♥ Action Wobble ~ to mount the spider
♥ Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine ~ Stampin' Up!
♥ "Happy Halloween" stamp ~ Imaginisce: Halloweeny collection
♥ Photo Labels punch ~ ek Success
♥ Spider & Web stamp ~ Pink By Design: Cute Halloween
♥ Cherry Cobbler & Basic Black stampin' pads ~ Stampin' Up!

{{BIG}} thanks to Pink By Design for the Cute Halloween stamp set!  I won this set during their 3000 Facebook "likes" giveaway.  It is just what the name says... a very cute Halloween set.

CHALLENGES:
♥ Crafty Sprouts ~ Color Challenge: Red, Black, & Slimey Green (use at least two)
♥ Celebrate the Occasion ~ Challenge #34: Any Occasion using Black, White, & Red

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~

LAST DAY for Belated Blogiversary Giveaway

Today is the last day to enter my Belated Blogiversary Giveaway.  One lucky Cricuteer will win a FREE downable copy of the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software.  AND because I love all my Cricuteers, there is also a coupon code for $10 off the My Memories software AND a $10 credit to the MyMemories.com store.  Be sure to head back to Sunday's post and enter to win!

Kid-Inspired Thank You (& Giveaway Reminder!)

If you are looking for my Belated Blogiversary Giveaway ~ which includes a FREE downloadable copy of the My Memories digital scrapbooking software AND a COUPON CODE for great discounts at MyMemories.com, click here.

This simple thank-you was designed by request to be given to a daycare provider.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Purple cardstock ~ The Paper Company Meadow pack

♥ White cardstock ~ Georgia Pacific

♥ Patterened paper ~ the Paper Studio All Seasons I paper pack

♥ Baby Border edge punch ~ ek Success

♥ Photo Labels punch ~ ek Success

♥ Kiwi, Bright Yellow, and Smoke Blue 1/8" ribbon ~ Offray

♥ "thanks" sentiment ~ Stampin' Up! So Happy For You

♥ Pumpkin Pie stampin' pad & marker ~ Stampin' Up!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Mini Baby Cards

One week from today, I will drop my son off at Grandma Daycare for the first time and return to work.  *Tears*... *BIG tears*... Okay, who am I kidding??  *BIG HUGE sobs combined with crocodile tears*  I know the world is full of working moms and moms returning to work from maternity leave every day, but I really am not ready to be one of them.  The road to bring our son into our lives was long, yet blessed, and I simply don't want to go back to work.  But next Monday morning, I will wake up, spend a little time with my son, give him a BIG kiss, and head to the warehouse for the first time since June!  Once there, I will do my best (yeah, right!) to focus my job.  HOWEVER - for today, I still have babies on the brain.  So here are some baby-themed mini-cards I made.  These little cards are great for gift giving and so much fun to make!

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ White cardstock ~ Georgia Pacific

♥ Blue / Green striped pattern paper ~ Recollections 24-Sheet Printed Scrapbook Paper Pack

♥ Multi-color striped pattern paper ~ the Paper Studio Sweet Pea matstack

♥ Pear Pizazz cardstock ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Elephant and Turtle stamps ~ Inkadinkado Welcome Baby

♥ "hello baby" sentiment ~ Stampin' Up! Teeny Tiny Wishes

♥ Photo Labels punch ~ ek Success

♥ Light blue 1/8" ribbon ~ Offray

♥ Clear gems ~ Recollections

♥ Various Stampin' Up! ink pads & markers

BIG THANKS & HUGS go out to Janis at Pause, Dream, Enjoy for sending me this super cute stamp set I used for these cards.  I just LOVE the little elephant and all the sweet sentiments.

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

P.S. Don't forget to enter to win my Belated Blog-iversary giveaway!  Click here for more details.

Belated Blogiversary Giveaway!!!

Hello Cricuteers!

15 months ago today, I sent my first post out into the blog world.  At the time, I was following lots of great scrappin' blogs and wanted to share my creations, too.  I am so happy I did.  I've made some wonderful friends and enjoyed every minute of sharing with other scrappers who truly understand what an addiction this crazy hobby can be!  :-)  Now I know most bloggers typically celebrate their blogiversary closer to the actual anniversary date, but my blogiversary slipped by while I was on bed rest... so we are going to celebrate today!  AND thanks to MyMemories.com, I have goodies to share with you!

Scrapbooking is an excellent way to preserve your family's memories for the future (and for many of us, to relieve a little stress and find some "me" time, too), but as we all know, scrapping also takes LOTS of time and storage space ~ which most of us don't have extra of these days.  Now that my little guy is here with us, I so badly want to capture and document all his fun moments while they are still fresh in my mind, but more importantly - I want to spend that time with him.  So rather than feeling stuck between creating memories now in the present and saving those sweet memories for the future, I've been playing with the idea of digital scrapbooking and am excited to use the My Memories digital scrapbooking software on this new adventure.

I haven't had much time to really dive into all the fun features in this program, but already I'm hooked.  Here's why...

♥ Seemingly endless amounts of papers and embellishments including brads, buttons, flowers, and ribbons.

♥ Quick & easy ~ You can simply drop your pictures into one of the numerous pre-designed templates or you can design your own pages from scratch.

♥ Color matching ~ you can simply "click" the color you wish to match right from your picture.  No more searching for the perfect color! 

♥ You can enter HSB/RGB color codes and store them in your favorite colors for future use.  (I cannot wait to look up and enter all my favorite SU! colors so I can coordinate ribbon and other embellishments from my personal collection with my digital designs.  That's right... for those of you who, like me, have an insane amount of scrapbooking supplies that you can't bare not to use, simply print your digital pages and then embellish to your heart's content!)

♥ Multimedia Output options ~ Design digital pages, and instead of printing them to put into traditional book-format, turn them into DVDs or iPod-ready files... COMPLETE with music AND voice narration.  Can you imagine making scrapbook pages for your kids and then being able to turn them into their life stories on DVD with your voice narrating??

Okay... so now that I've rambled on WAY too long (which I have a tendency to do when I get really excited about something - just ask my hubby!), let me show you a quick birth announcement I made for our son using the My Memories suite.  Once I was done designing my layout, I exported it to a jpeg file that I saved on my computer and can now print at my local Costco. So simple, so quick, and personalized just the way I wanted.

AND NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!

(*drumroll please*)

My Memories has gratiously given me a downloadable copy of this wonderful scrapbooking software to give away to one lucky Cricuteer.

How to win??

♥ Become a follower of my blog (required)

♥ Visit MyMemories.com and tell me what your favorite digital paper or embellishment pack is

♥ Share this giveaway post on your blog - include a link back to this post and leave a comment here with a link to your post

♥ Become a follower of the MyMemories blog

♥ "Like" MyMemories on Facebook and tell them I sent you

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry (5 possible entries!) and include an e-mail address for me to contact you with your exclusive promo code if you win.  You have until 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, 9/28 to submit entries.

In addition, My Memories is offering $10 off the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software AND a $10 credit to the MyMemories.com store to all Cricuteers.  Simply enter coupon code STMMMS87876 over at MyMemories.com to take advantage of this special offer.

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Who Says Coloring is Just For Kids??

I don't know about you all, but I have always loved to color.  I even have my own box of Crayolas and coloring books (Care Bears & Mickey Mouse, of course)!  So when I went to an SU! open house about a month ago and our make-and-take project included coloring, I was completely geeked!  And now, I want to color on every project I do.  Blender pens, aqua painters, watercolor pencils, markers... it doesn't matter as long as I get to color.  LoL.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ DCWV Dots, Stripes, & Plaids stack

♥ DCWV Bright & Jewels coordinating cardstock stack

♥ DCWV Mango Frost matstack

♥ DCWV Hippie Chic matstack

♥ Stampin' Up! Birthday Bakery

♥ Stampin' Up! Teeny Tiny Wishes

♥ ek Success Photo Labels punch

♥ Offray 1/4" Cream ribbon

♥ Stampin' Up! Night of Navy, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, and Old Olive markers

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

P.S. Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for my belated blogiversary celebration and giveaway!

Stampin' Up! Fun & A Surprise!

Happy Fall, Cricuteers!

The signs of Fall are all around... the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees, the temperatures are cooling off (49 degrees this morning!), I can hear the sounds of the local high school football games out my window, Hot Apple Cider K-cups are back in stores, and my Stampers 10 Club has begun again!

I hosted a SU! Workshop last weekend and ordered my new 2011-2013 In-Colors.  I'm super excited to get them along with the two exclusive hostess sets I ordered.  Deb, my SU! demonstrator, got a "workshop-in-a-bag" kit at SU! convention this year, and because I was her first post-convention hostess, she used it at my workshop.  It featured fun projects made with the new in-colors, the new Easy Events stamp set that I cannot wait to get my hands on, and some fabulous new ribbon!  All the projects in the kit were so cool that I just had to share them with you.  Let me know what you think!

Here's the first card... I love the ribbon and baker's twine!

This cute tag set was made using all of the new in-colors!

This was our fun make-and-take.  The pocket envelope was made by first sealing a traditional envelope and then cutting an inch off one of the sides before using a large circle punch to punch a semi-circle out of the same side.  



Hope you all have a fantastic first weekend of Fall!  Be sure to stop back on Sunday for my belated blog-iversary celebration.  I will have a fun giveaway for one lucky Cricuteer AND a coupon code for all!!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~