It's a boy! & Valentines Weekend in NYC

Good morning friends! Life is finally calming down some. Company is gone, trip to NYC is over and I'm back in the craft room once more. I have a baby shower this weekend so I finally had the opportunity to use my New Arrival cart that I've had forever and never once used it. There are so many cutesy baby things on it it was really hard to decide which one to do. I finally decided on the little onesy. We know the little one is a boy so blue is the color. The onesie and duck is from New Arrival. I cut 2 blue-front and back and then a 3rd in white and cut it down to make the top pattern. Both pieces were run thru my Cuttlebug. I put the duck thru my Xyron and then coated it with yellow glitter flocking. The beak was colored orange and covered with Glossy Accents to give it dimension. The bottom of the bodice was decorated with a MS punch to add a little more texture. A computer generated greeting was adhered to the back layer and the two layers were attached with an eyelet using my Crop-a-Dile Big Bite. Just loved e finished product. So....baby!!

We had a wonderful Valentines Weekend in NYC. We stayed in my nephews girlfriend mothers apartment on the 32nd floor of her complex. It was facing the Hudson River and the shores of New Jersey. From the bedroom you could see Lady Liberty..........it was just beautiful. We shopped a little and ate a lot and trust me I didn't count weight watchers points either! It was sunny but VERY cold

View from the living room

Weight Watchers Nightmare!

and windy but that didn't stop us from walking the city and seeing the sights. We just had to stop at CRUMBS where they sell the most beautiful cupcakes ever. After 20 minutes or so of deliberating we choose our goodies and with forks in hand took off for Bryant Park directly across the street, found a table and dug in! Yes...22  frigid degrees and we are devouring cupcakes in the park.We don't look as tho we care do we?

3 chocolate crazy females!

Well I don't know what is up with the placement of these picture. Blogger has no regard for where I want them!
Have a great weekend and here is one last picture of one heck of a cupcake! How many WW point is this one?

WOW!!!!

So Exciting...and a Very Simple, but Elegant Christmas Card(Bog Hop Updates Too!)

Beginning a blog is a very slow....painful process. For weeks now I have felt like I am talking essentially to myself. NOT that I don't do that mind you...but never publicly! Everyday I check...no comments, no new followers then suddenly I noticed some newcomers and low and behold some comments. WooWooo,,,...was I ever excited! Thank you, each and every one of you and welcome. Please comment...I love constructive criticism and I really thrive on praise. If you have a blog, please leave me your addy and I will follow! Look at me....as excited as a little kid at Christmas!
Wow, there are some really great blog hops out there this week. I've noticed that there were many participating that had never done so before. I just completed one that took me almost all day to complete! But they are so much fun and so inspirational. Amazing the creativity and raw talent out there!
Well, I set my own record this week. My creativity does not come easy. I really have to work hard at it so it takes me forever to complete a project however yesterday I designed and completed a Christmas Card in less than 2 hours....and I liked it! It was simple, rather plain but elegant, Take a look....

It is a simple 5.5x7 card with a white cardstock base, a second layer .25 inches smaller and the 3rd layer  cut another .25 inches smaller and embossed with a Cuttlebug Flourish Folder. I love that folder..it is so classy looking. The stamp is one my mother picked up at a yard sale a few years ago. It has been sitting in a box until the other night, untouched. The image was stamped using clear embossing ink, sprinkled with gold embossing powder and heated with my heat gun. The emblem was cut from Spellbinders Nestabilities Label Sixteen and mounted on foam squares for added dimension. The Gold bow (I think I'm finally making some progress in bow making 101!) gives it a little extra pizazz. A pearl embellishment is sitting where originally a snowflake was to sit however it it refused to co-operate so,,, That's it...nice and fast but very formal and elegant looking don't you think? Love the white and gold together too! So.....what are you doing this weekend? If your snowed in, need a break from Christmas shopping or need a fantastic creativity boost visit the following blog hops AND if you know of any...share the info! The 12 Days of Christmas,'Tis The Season,Rockin Around The Christmas Tree, Helmar has a giveaways going on Sunday, 12/05 and if you check Taylord Concepts she is having a humongous giveaway in celebration of her blog-aversary. This is worth checking out...trust me!
Have a super great weekend and go forth and create!

In the Christmas Spirit

Did I happen to mention that I love Christmas? I love everything about it. The sights, the glitter and sparkle,the smells of cinnamon, evergreen and peppermint, the music,especially the classics but most of all I love decorating my tree....well *smile*, let's make it plural this year,,,,TREES...2 of them, I have the one in my living room that is a Victorian theme and the newest addition,my "travel tree" in the dining room. The latter is decorated with ornaments collected from everywhere my husband  and I have been in the short 12 years we have been together along with a few ornaments from when the children were little and from close friends. It's a special tree that evoked many emotions while I was decorating it with my treasures I just love Christmas. Did I mention that?

I've been pretty busy with the holiday preparations but did manage to get another card together, one I'm pretty pleased with. I took my first shaker card and made it bit fancier. I love snow globes and found just the right one on the Cricut Joys of the Season Cartridge. When I began this project I wasn't real sure how I was going to assemble it without the foam tape showing around the acetate. As you can see I did come up with a solution using fabric trim. The background, both the white and blue, were embossed using the

snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder. The background of the Snow Globe was done in white,embossed with the same folder, was sprayed with Glacier Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. The globe cover was cut from an acetate sheet, white snow glitter was placed on top of the background and the acetate globe cover adhered to the background with foam mounting tape. I have found that by going around the edges with Glossy Accents you avoid leaking of glitter from your card! I attached a little snowflake charm that I found on the clearance rack at Micheals. I then cut two snowflakes from Cricut Winter Lace Cartridge out of white and silver glitter paper and adhered it to the tag. The stamp was from Joannes $1.00 bin. I stamped it and embossed it in metallic silver. I hope you like it and it inspires you to try one!
Over the next few weeks I will be up to my neck in Christmas projects. I will share them with you with completed. Hint: ornaments for the grandchildren using cricut cuts and etched wine glasses. Should be fun!
Happy December 1st everyone.....only 25 days till Christmas so get crafting!

It's my first!

Happy Monday morning friends! I finally cleared enough space in my second bedroom (you know-the one buried with everything from my new craft studio room that's under construction) to create my sisters birthday card.  Just locating everything was a big job. I have been admiring the Vintage cards many are doing. I am especially fond of the work a very talented woman from Sweden, Pojjo. If you love Vintage art it would be well worth the few minutes to visit her gallery at Scrapbook.Com. She is incredible-my card "idol" as source of inspiration! I set out to try my hand at Vintage card crafting. My youngest daughter bought me some Vintage art CD's from Lunagirl Images for my birthday and I've been dying to play! This is what I came up with:

I'm really happy with it! I got to play with lace (adore it!) and flowers (my passion!)
My base was made from basic Ivory cardstock-Joann Fabrics
Brown matting was cut 3/8" smaller than base and inked with Ranger Distress Ink-vintage photo
Ivory was embossed using a 5X7 Cuttlebug Folder (I believe it was called Florishes) and edges inked with brown ink-it was a small sample cube-uncertain of brand.
My lace was cream but way to light for the card so I brewed up a strong cup of Lipton tea and soaked it for about 10 minutes,rinsed in cold H2O and hung on the line while I played with the music sheet.
Expect alot of sheet music from me....I love the look. This piece I scraplifted from Vintage Ephemera. If you are into Vintage this is a wonderful place to visit and they have everything there free for the taking. Even if you aren't into papercrafting it is a fun place to just browse through all the old photographs, postcards and art. Hummm..........back to the directions! I printed the sheet music on regular paper so it would be easier to crumple and play with. I distressed it using  the Ranger Distress Ink-Vintage photo and then sprayed it with a mist of water...crumpled...flattened and allowed to dry. (okay.......so I really didn't "mist"-my mister was missing(buried) so I didn't get the effect I wanted. I just sprinkled the water) In the mean time I printed my photo from Lunagirls-Sugar and Spice CD,tore selected edges inked with the Distressed ink then covered it with a very thin glaze of Crackle Accents by Inkssentials for that aged look.After drying I adhered the lace and Pima flowers - The sentiment was done from my computer and cut from Spellbinders label die and adhered with foam for dimension.
The antique heart was from a jewelry set I found at Micheals.
And there you have it. I love this look and plan on doing much more of it.
Thanks for looking. Would love it if you would leave a comment! Hey...if you happen to know my sister....don't give her this link just yet! *wink*
Have a super week!