Kacee's Birthday Blog Hop!!

Hi and welcome to "McVic is 36 Birthday Blog Hop"! Please sit down stay a while, and enjoy the cards or crafty projects we have made. Also, make sure you comment on each blog, Kacee is going to give away some birthday blog candy to a follower who comments on all the blogs, and lives in the United States. There may be other candy along the way. :) (Psst...read on & you might just find some here!!)

  
If you just happened upon my blog today, and would like to play along, please start over at Kacee's blog www.youhadmeatscrap.blogspot.com  I wouldn't want you to miss out on any candy! If you just came from Shannon you are in the right spot.

This is my 1st Blog Hop I am participating in!! I have "hopped" along many, but never actually participated! I am sure I will be doing many more! I have had so much fun picking out my project & making some new friends along the way!! 

I decided to make a super cute (If I don't say so myself!! LOL!!) birthday card to share! 

I used Elegant Edges for the background mat & Simply Charmed for the cake cut! My colors were based on my background paper from The Birthday Extravaganza from The Paper Studio stack! And of course topped it off with a Peachy Keen face stamp, My Pink Stamper sentiment & Stickles!!  


How about some blog candy??? Everyone LOVES blog candy right?? Well I have a little bit 'o candy for ya! 

I would LOVE it if you became a follower & just leave a comment below (Winners must live in the continental United States...Don't forget your email so I can contact you!!!) I am going to try out the random generator thing & if I have luck, great! If not, I will find another way to pick a winner on Thursday evening Sept 1st!! Good luck!! :)

Now head on over to Shawnee and see what crafty project she has made!

Thank you for hopping with us today! Here is the hop list in case you get lost....

Kacee - http://youhadmeatscrap.blogspot.com

Gloria - http://omascrafts.blogspot.com

Yolie - http://www.justyolie.com

Shannon - http://my-o-scrappin.blogspot.com/

Laura- http://laurascraftsandmore.blogspot.com/  <--------You are here!!

Shawnee - http://www.blessedonthebrightside.com/  <--------Your next stop....

Amy - http://www.lovetocrop.com

Rhonda - http://scraphappenswithrhonda.blogspot.com/

Brenda http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com

Audrey - http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com/

Alisha - http://scrappin-happens.blogspot.com/

Celeste - http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

Until next time....
♥ Laura ♥

Card Creating Tuesday

Good Morning!! Welcome to Card Creating Tuesday over at My Cricut Craft Room!! On this day, we as The Design Team, create many different varieties of cards for you too see!

Today I decided to use a new cart that I got Elegant Edges! I have been wanting this cart since it came out...and FINALLY got it last week! :) I really love all the layers you can achieve with this cart! This is definitely a keeper! But aren't they all??? LOL!!  

Just look at that cute heart cut-out!!! LOVE it!! I also used my favorite DCWV Hippie Chick paper...I just love these colors!! And of course My Pink Stamper stamps! Those are definitely my "go-to" stamps! Especially since I have them within arms reach on my craft table!

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's card....head on over to My Cricut Craft Room to see some more fabulous cards!!

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

SUO (Stampin Up only) cards from the weekend

Whew!!! What a long, busy, crazy weekend it was!! You know the kind where you feel the only time you have some downtime is when you are sleeping? And then your brain won't shut off so you don't actually go into a deep sleep...that was my weekend! It was non-stop from 6 AM Sat morn until midnight Sun night! But after it's all over (and I take a nap on Monday!! Lol!!) I actually kind of like those kind of weekends! Just not EVERY weekend!

So one of the things I did was our monthly Stampin Up Club party! I just love getting together w/"my ladies" & teaching new (some old too) techniques & showing new products! We have such a good time every month! Non-stop laughing, eating & stamping....what more could you ask for??

So here are the projects we worked on...This first card we worked on Shadow Stamping & used one of the new In colors (Lucky Limeade)...also the new embossing folders Designer Frames, this one we used the rectangle & on the next card we used the oval

The second card we did was focusing on Two-Step Stamping....Surprisingly, most of them had not done this technique before! I love it because I like the black outlines & colors!

And our last project we did some cork board magnets....I saw this online somewhere out there in "Bloggy Land" (if anyone knows where I can give credit to, please let me know!!) but I did change it up a bit of course!

These cork squares are 4x4 and I added some simple embellishments on the top. But WOW the possibilities are endless!! So many different ways to do these...larger cork squares, different shapes...different embellishments! Oh boy!! I see alot of these in my future! LOL!!

Tomorrow I will have my DT post for Card Creating Tuesday...so be sure to check back! :)

Until next time....
♥ Laura ♥

An award!! And life in general...

First I want to start by saying "Yipee!!!" I won another award from Kacee over at You Had Me At Scrap!! Thank you so much Kacee! I recently "met" Kacee when she asked me to join her on her first blog hop (which is next week!!! So excited!) I have never participated in a hop before so this is really exciting for me!! Anyway...there are some "rules" for accepting this award...I must answer some questions & then pass it on to some other super wonderful blogs! So here we go....

1) Name your favorite color?

Definitely PURPLE!! But I am really starting to like pink/black/white combo!!  

2) Name your favorite song?

I LOVE music so this is really hard!! But since my fav group is Def Leppard...then I have to say anything by them!! 

3) Name your favorite dessert?

Brownie & ice cream....or anything chocolate!! 

 4) What wizzes you off at the moment?

People who can't park correctly!!! UGH that is one of my biggest pet peeve!! I want to leave notes on their cars!! :)

5) Your favorite pet?

ALL of my animals...Kirby, Kodie, Blue, Precious, Pumpkin

 6) Black or White

Black

 7) Your biggest fear?

Not seeing my kids get older & have children of their own

8) Best Feature?Hmm, another hard question...I guess my eyes

 

9) Everyday attitude?

I think it's good....hubby & kids might not agree all the time! :)

10) What is perfection?

A day with my family & time to sneak in some crafting! 

11) Guilty Pleasure?

Dr. Pepper

12) When you're upset you?

Call my Mom! :)

Now I have to pass this award onto others. 

http://cardsbycg.blogspot.com/ Cheryl
http://beckyssweetcreations.blogspot.com/ Becky
http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com/ Jennie
http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/ Ashley


Now on to some general life topics...Most importantly, to day is my baby's 13th birthday!!!

Wow!! I can NOT believe he is 13!!! He had football practice tonight so we just ordered pizza & will celebrate a little more tomorrow!! He also took his football pics today, so you KNOW I will post them as soon as I get them! :) So proud of him!! 


And now for a project!! 

I got an order for 2 more magnet boards!! One is for an ECC teacher & one is for a 1st grade teacher! I love how they turned out!! :) These boards are so cool & I love making them!! 

And one last thing before I go....My Mom's dog got really sick yesterday. They are still not sure what exactly is wrong with her...they are treating it as a poisoning though. She was very near death last night but seems to be responding to all the fluids, medication & all the other stuff they are pumping through her! She is a total inside dog so the poisoning thing is really baffling! They also said it could be a kidney "illness" but they are testing for that & have to send off for the results...meanwhile, she is still at the ER Vet & could still use some prayers & words of encouragement! :)

Well tomorrow is our monthly club meeting ], so I will have some exciting pics from that tomorrow...AND some really cool news!! Stay tuned!!! Lol!! :) Thanks for hanging in there with this VERY long post! 

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Would You Guess Wednesday

I want to start this post by saying a big HELLOOOO to all my new friends & followers!! It is so awesome to see people coming back to see what I have been posting!! I truly appreciate all your comments too!! I love reading them & they make me smile every time!! :)

OK today I have my Design Team post for My Cricut Craft Room!! Today is Would You Guess Wednesday! 

Would you guess… Wednesdays- On this day, there are 4 ways to do this day.

We use ONLY the features on the cartridges, this applies to all three ways to do this day

1. . What this means is when you look at the handbook, you cannot use the main image on the left side of the page. But you can use ALL of the other features or layers.

2. Also you can use a CAKE cartridge to make a Paper creation.

3 On certain days we can use the same paper and see what everyone does with the same paper collection

4. You may also pick a 'partner'... Basically we partner up and use the same cartridge with the same pages, sizes and cuts.

Today I decided to do #1 above: Using ONLY the feature keys of the overlay! This can be a little trickier than it sounds!! I realized I DO use the feature keys only alot, but when I HAVE to...now that's a whole other story!! (Said in my best Texas accent!! LOL!!) 

I decided to use Birthday Bash & Paper Lace carts:

I also used some DCWV paper & of course....STICKLES!! Butterflies HAVE to have Stickles! :) 

I really LOVE this postage stamp cut for the base of my card! I also didn't glue down the butterflies wings so I could "pop" them out a bit for dimension! 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to take a peek! And if you want to go back and look at all the other Would You Guess Wednesday projects, head back over to My Cricut Craft Room! 

Until next time...

♥ Laura ♥

1st day of school 2011 & a few crafts!

Please bear with me as I do the "Mom Gush"!! I promise there ARE crafts at the end of the post!! :)

Well today is the 1st day of school for my boys!  My oldest, Travis (16) is a junior & my youngest, Trevor (13 this Friday!!) is in 8th grade...his LAST year in middle school!! Wow!!  I can't believe how they have grown up!! I took our annual 1st day of school pics this morning, they were making me laugh so much! I've said many times this summer...this is the 1st year I do NOT want them going back to school!! You know how it is, you want your quiet time, blah, blah....but they are at the age that I have my quiet time (when needed), I have crafting time, I can come & go as I please & they actually are fun!!! But, oh well, they HAVE to go so I shall deal with it!! Lol!! :) Here are their Back to School pics 2011....I was only going to put one but just had to show how silly they were this morning!! No zombies....wow!! That's a first too!!

 Trevor being sad that school is starting!! He is my drama kid...can you tell??

 They kept laughing everytime I would try & take the pic!! Those crazy kids!! :)

They are actually both excited for school this year...Travis is in Culinary Arts AND has his Junior lunch pass!! Off campus lunch everyday....well that he can afford at least!! I told him he HAD to go somewhere today for sure!! Even Valero!! Lol!! And Trevor is in Drama 3 & football...his two favorite things!! The kids that are still in Drama after 3 yrs really want to be there so it IS more exciting! It's going to be a great year for them!!

Ok, enough Mom stuff!! On to crafting!! Well, since we spent the last couple of days getting last minute stuff ready I haven't crafted in TWO days!! EEEEKKK!!! Starting to feel the withdrawals!! BUT, I did finish the Magnet boards that I started here...I put the teachers name & added the rest of the magnets

And then I also made another candy jar that she wanted after seeing the 1st one!!

And on a final note: I won some blog candy the other day from a blog hop (Yea me!!) and wanted to show these! I LOVE Stickles (If you couldn't tell by my using them ALL the time!! Lol!!) and my blog candy was a Limited Edition pack of 3 Stickles! I was SO excited...ANY Stickles is good Stickles!! Then I got the package....HOLY COW!!! I NEED to find where to buy these!!!

You may wonder...What is so exciting about this??? Look at this next pic....

It is AT LEAST double in size!! Awesome!!! Super great candy!!! :) Well I WILL be crafting tonight and tomorrow for sure!! I miss it & am SO ready to make some fun stuff!!

Until next time...
 ♥ Laura ♥

Country Life

For my birthday my wonderful, sweet, awesome friend, Tammy, gave me the Country Life cart...That was last weekend & I FINALLY got around to breaking it out & playing!! For some reason I couldn't get my "animal" mojo to kick in but I did pick this cut & LOVE IT!!! Very simple & super easy to piece together! I also received a birthday card from a Design Team friend that used a postage stamp card base & I have been wanting to use that cut for a while now...So I went searching through all my books & could not find it!! The carts that I have loaded on my Gypsy, I gave to my Mom so she has all the books! So, then I knew I would have to go through my Gypsy & try to find it!! On my 1st try...I found it on Birthday Bash!! I will def be making alot more of these card bases in the future...I love them!!

I cut the base at 5.5" on my Gypsy & the flowers are at 4'5"...added some bling (of course!!) ,some twine that I got from Trendy Twine & a stamp from My Pink Stamper...and Voila!! Done!! So cute!!

I also finished up the magnet boards from here, I put the teacher's names & finished up the magnets! Will post pictures of those tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great weekend! We are all dreading it because Monday is the 1st day of school! :( I am SO not ready for them to go back...but oh well...we deal with it! Lol!!

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Theme Day Thursday....Shopping!!

Welcome to another Theme Day Thursday over at My Cricut Craft Room!! Every Thursday a theme is chosen & this week it is every females favorite past time....SHOPPING!! :) I love shopping, of course craft shopping is my all-time favorite!

I wanted to make something I could give to a friend for a birthday & be able to add a gift card. So I decided to try something I have never done before...Using my Gypsy to weld images & make a shaped card! I have only had my Gypsy for a few months & am just getting the hang of it, honestly...When I am in a hurry or frustrated I tend to pull out my overlays & carts & just skip my Gypsy!! (GASP!!) And I do love the feel of pushing those buttons on the overlay & hitting "CUT"!! :) But I also like the versatility of using my Gypsy to be able to make different shaped cards & of course other things too!

Anyway...here is my card! I used DoodleCharms for my shopping bag image...

I sized the original image at 5.5", copied it & moved it next to the 1st image. Then welded it together...this did take me quite a while to figure it out but once I got it, no problem!! Imagine the possibilities...any shape turned into a card!! My brain's wheels are a turnin'!! LOL!!

And here is the inside...I added a small pocket to slip the gift card in.

And of course plenty of room to write a message on the side!

Thanks so much for stopping by on Theme Day Thursday!! Go on back to My Cricut Craft Room to see what the rest of the Design team has come up this week! :)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

I ♥ my Gypsy & Comp book

I have only had my Gypsy for a few months & have liked using it but today I LOVE it!!! I had to make some letters for a teacher to put on her classroom wall. I used Birthday Bash cart because I love the alpha on there!  I wanted them big so I made them 6"...well of course a 12x12 paper SHOULD be able to cut 4 letters, right? Of course not!! The "W" for one is wider than 6", so if I just used my Cricut alone I probably would have only got MAYBE 2 letters on a page...more than likely 1 letter!  So, I used my Gypsy to flip & turn & actually on one of my cuts I got FOUR letters on one page!!!

And here are the letters put together...It will say "WORD WALL"

LOVE how they turned out!!

Then, recently I got an email from Oh My Crafts that had a craft project in it. I had never seen OMC projects in an email but when I saw the project...I knew I HAD to try it!! I love making comp books but OMG this idea is so cool!! I always make matching pens & this is a perfect way to keep it with your comp book!! Here are the full instructions but here are a few pics of my comp book that I made ALL FOR ME!!! Don't craft just for me very often...but it was fun!! Here is the finished comp book...LOOK at the pen!! So cool!!

 And here are some before pics & more detailed pics...

 I found this lace ribbon at Hobby Lobby! It comes in many different colors but of course I had to have purple!! :)

I really, really love how this turned out & am sure THIS is the way all my comp book orders will be done from now on!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another Theme Day Thursday and see my project I made for My Cricut Craft Room  Design Team!! It is SO cute!! (If I don't say so myself!! LOL!!)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Welcome Back Teacher gifts & fun mail!!

Well I have already talked about back-to-school time & now the projects begin!! My friend (& favorite customer!) moved over the summer so her kids will be in new schools this year! I have been doing goodies for their teachers for 3-4 yrs now & my 1st thought was "We get to start over!!!" New teachers...who have never received any of my things...THIS is going to be great!! :) So we decided for the 1st day of school as a "I'm so excited to be in your class" gift I would do Magnet Boards! These are so pretty & so useful for a teacher's classroom! And of course they can be decorated with any theme or color! The schools colors are black/white so I decided to do all black/white instead of hoping to do a color the teacher likes! Since these are "new to us" teachers, we don't even know the names yet! So when she finds out on Thursday, I will add the name to the bottom of the board!

This is a cookie sheet, covered w/paper & you can add any embellishments that you might want! I added some "pebble magnets" & for the picture sake I put my initial but will change it when we know more! 

These are the flat clear rocks found at crafts stores with the initial punched out & a magnet adhered on the back. I have even punched out some of the paper & used that so that they match the board! 

This is a close-up of the ribbon one of the boards...It is silver "ribbon" but it is see-through & didn't show up too well, so I added a piece of black cardstock behind it! 

I punched holes at the top of the cookie sheet to run some ribbon through for a hanger...had to bring out the big 'ole Crop-A-Dile 2! These cookie sheets are really thick! I usually find them at Dollar Tree or Dollar General but they haven't been carrying them over here lately, so these are a little more expensive & thicker!! 

Then we had talked about doing candy jars for the front office, but not knowing how many or the people up there personally yet, I said why don't I make one big jar for the whole office? I LOVE how this turned out!!!

Now it just needs to be filled with lots of chocolate so they can survive the 1st couple of days of school!! LOL!! She might need to re-fill it a couple of times that week!! :)

Now for some fun mail I received today!! 

Weekend before last I joined in on some blog hops...If you have never hopped on a blog hop before it is alot of fun & you get some wonderful ideas for projects! And the best part? You could win some really neat blog candy!! I actually won 4 things last week & now my goodies are starting to filter in! First, I got this set over at Barbara's Blog...under you might be able to see a pack of paper too! More paper!! :)

 Then over at Tammy's blog I won this!! I was so excited!! I have never bought a Cricut book, so this was my 1st time seeing one! Great pictures & tons of inspiration!!

♥ Laura ♥

Manic Monday

Are you singing the song yet?? "It's just another Manic Monday..." :) We did have a busy day today & it seemed to be ALL about Trevor!! Went shopping for new shoes for school (that was a FEW hours!! he is SO picky!!) went to lunch, then headed up to his school so he could help out a teacher who needed some help in her room! Was just supposed to drop him off, but of course went inside & ended up staying until he was done! Came home, started dinner then remembered I had to get my project & post ready for this week for the Design Team!! And also had another comp book to make!! Here is the funny part...the DT post won't be up until Thursday (be sure & come back to see!!)...AND the comp book is a surprise to someone so I can't show that either!! LOL!!

But no worries!! I actually have a couple of cards that I did recently that I haven't posted! Honestly...I forgot that i hadn't posted them yet!! Oh well!

The 1st one is a new stamp set from Stamps of Life This set is "Branches4Flowers" & is the August stamp set of the month! If you haven't joined the club yet over there, here is more info...it is an AMAZING deal & the quality of stamps..also AMAZING!! Anyway, here is the card...

I have had this background paper FOREVER!! It is all textured, fuzzy...not exactly sure what it is called! But I have a huge pack of it in all different colors & patterns, so I decided to finally open it up & use it! I am really trying to do that more often!!

So, I only used a small part of the stamp set to actually "show" the paper off more! Here is a side view to show the texture more...you can see the fibers coming off the paper! It reminds me of some wallpaper that was (maybe still is!!) in my Grandparents house!! Or was it a couch?? Hmm...anyway!!

Also, tonight would like to show you a cute little card I made the other night! It all started because I THOUGHT I had a stamp that said something about "Bee-ing" your friend or something like that! So I cut out my bee from Create-A-Critter, found my background papers, punched the border punch, used my Cuttlebug border and then...realized I DID NOT have that stamp!! UGH!! So, I just used any ole' stamp that was cute!! I am going to have to get my the stamp I THOUGHT I had!! :)

I cut out his wings with vellum & then ran it through the Swiss Dots CuttleBug folder! And of course added some sparkle with Stickles!!

Now off to watch Big Brother that I missed last night! Golf ran over so everything was running late! Grrr!! I hate when that happens!

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Teacher Deco

Well back to school is in full swing over here! The teachers go back on Monday & the students go back next Mon the 22nd! Since the teachers are headed back, many are looking at how to decorate their rooms & supplies! My good friend & best customer :) is back to teaching Math this year so "we" get to decorate her room & of course she needs new comp books & other classroom deco!

She asked me to decorate her bulletin board that she was going to be putting up in her room...pink/zebra stripes was her request, so here is the finished product!

And here is closer pics for the details! A girls gotta have BLING!! :)

LOL!! This looks like chicken pox! But of course cuter!! LOL!! These letters are cut @ 3" with Alphalicious cart.....

Then she asked for 2 comp books, 1 "describing" her personality & the 2nd with her name & a pink/black scheme.

Here is the personality comp book...Now for those of you reading this that know her, did I hit the nail on the head or what?? :)

Polka dots, zebra, pink/black & of course bling!! These letter are cut @ 1 1/4" with Alphalicious cart again! I love how this turned out! It is SO Brandee!! :)

And the 2nd comp book also is definitely Brandee but a little subdued!

This is a border punch from Stampin'Up w/pink cardstock behind it & rhinestones on top! Letters cut the same as above...

 I hope she likes them & I'm sure you will see more for her room very soon! The ideas are swirling around in my head & I am ready to tackle whatever she throws at me!! LOL!! :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend & see you back here soon for more crafty fun! :)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥