50 and Fab birthday party invites

I have a friend, Mary, who is about to join the 50 and fabulous gang and we are giving her a party!  She is Irish, so we used the whole shamrock theme.  The photos are not as pretty as the invitation-I really need to take my photos in the day time and not at night-LOL!!  Happy Birthday to my dear friend!

Inside:

Thanks for the great comments!

                                                                                                                                               Photo by Jesse Reich of Tulsa, OK
Digital album cover/layout using CM SBC 4.0.

Thanks to all my scrapbooking sisters for the wonderful comments made about my layout.  I did keep it simple to spotlight the cart and the paper pack and give an easily reproducible (is that a real word?) item to help inspire those holiday layouts.  I love to do the extremely decorative layouts as well, but I don't put them in a scrapbook.  To me, those LO are more for home decor and special events or techniques.  I will usually scrapbook those same photos on a less decorative layout for my scrapbook.  In my family albums, I want the photos to be the first thing you notice on my pages.  I use CM scrapbooks exclusively for my family memories and I don't want to include items that can put dents or scratches on them by rubbing. The best part of our craft is that everyone can do it their way!  It is your book to do as you wish.  Don't you love that freedom?  I think there is a place for all the artistic and decorative items around and I use them often-at least I've spent a small fortune on them!  I still have so much to learn about the techniques and tricks of the media.  Isn't it fun?

Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop

Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Winter/Christmas Themed Blog Hop celebrating our favorite time of the year. This Blog Hop is hosted by Paulette, from Around the Bock with Scrapalette. You can start at the beginning of the hop at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/.

My project for the hop is a two page layout using the new CM Cricut cartridge, 'Tis the Season and the CM Christmas paper line, Noel.  I love, love this cart and I am just as crazy about the new paper line by CM.  It is just so pretty and it has lots of gold foil accents throughout the pack.  The paper is doublesided and one side has gold foil highlights. There is a paper ribbon pack, sticker sheet that includes a pretty alphabet and a gorgeous album to match.  I did use some Core'dinations gold paper in addition to the pack for the cuts.  All cuts are at 3 inches with the exception of the tree which is cut at 6 inches.

Some blog candy:  Since I love this paper pack sooooo much and since this is such a special blog hop, I have decided to give away one of these paper packs to one of our visitors.  Please leave a comment or follow my blog and I'll let the random generator pick a winner.  Deadline for comments will be Sunday night at 11:59 CST.

If you would like to order the paper pack or CM cart, feel free to send me an email, comment or message.  I will be sure to give you a special deal!

Thanks for hopping by, your next stop is Madylyn
at http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/

Here is the entire Blog Hop list:

1. Paulette at http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
2. Debbie at http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/
3. Carolyn at http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/
4. Brenda at http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/
5. Maria at http://stampcutcreate.blogspot.com/
6. Chris at http://scrappin-nanapuddin.blogspot.com/
7. Cindy at http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/
8. Michele at http://www.michelegreen.com/
9. Lisa at http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com
10. Dana at http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/
11. Nancy at http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/
12. Madylyn at http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/
13. Wini at http://www.looneybugdesigns.com/
14. Renee at http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/
15. Tammy at http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/
16. Debbie at http://debbieduddles.blogspot.com/
17. Kim at http://blingdazzler.com/
18. Brandi at http://scubascrapperbrandi.blogspot.com/
19. Sharon at http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/
20. Liz at http://liz-lavendarandroses.blogspot.com/

I've been playing!!! So much fun....

I love the holidays and colors of fall, so I tend to really like to play around with the colors and crafts of fall.  I saw the trick or treat pumpkins on Joy's blog, Obsessed with Scrapbooking, so I tried my hand at them.  Love them!  The polka dot pumpkins are all mine.....easy peasy!  You could use white or black pumpkins and black, white or orange vinyl and your circle punch or trusty Cricut machine.

Happy October, Happy Fall!!!

Fall is hands down my favorite time of the year!  School starts, temperatures drop (finally), holiday season begins and the colors around us are so rich and glorious!  God does beautiful work-He is the original crafter! 

We watched the Florida vs Alabama game last night and I got a little crafting in while I watched. By the way, GEAUX LSU TIGERS!!!!! I thought these turned out really cute and were really pretty easy. I used chargers from Michaels ($2 before a coupon for 25% off) and vinyl from Expressions Vinyl at $1.89 plus shipping a sheet. These cost about $2 a piece to make.  Let me know what your think?

A few more fall layouts-easy ones!

Just a few from the last couple of years.  I love fall colors and I tend to do the fall layouts as soon as I have photos or maybe even before!  Sorry these photos are not the best.  I really need to set up a better system for photoing my projects.  All paper here is CM.

Autumn Blog Hop from the Cricut Circle members!

Welcome to the Fall Blog Hop with Circle Sisters!

You should be coming from Madylyn's blog Inspired by Color . If you've just  happened to come across my blog, please check out each of the ladies' blogs listed at the end of my post. You will want to start at Kristen's blog for the beginning of the hop.

My project for today comes from the Art Nouveau cart recently released.  I absolutely LOVE the art on this cart!  It is unique and quite different from any other cart I have.  I had to have it as soon as I saw it!  The cart has lots of beautiful images that are rather art deco in design.  I chose the acorns cut, cattails cut and woman 1 to make the layout below.  Cardstock is from Creative Memories and Bo Bunny.  I did a bit of shading with Copic Pens and used a Viva Decor pearl pen to add some interest.    Thanks for looking!

Now on to the other blogs for some more fall inspiration!

1) Kristen  http://fantabulouslypink.blogspot.com/


2) Michele  http://www.michelegreen.com/

3) Roberta  http://www.txscrappermom.blogspot.com/

4) Mary  http://www.marebearscraps.blogspot.com/

5) Renee  http://icameisawicreated.blogspot.com/

6) Carolyn  http://cccscraproom.blogspot.com/

7) Gamma  http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

8) Colleen  http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com/

9) DoodleDiva  http://www.doodledivadesigns.com/

10) Kimbe  http://kimberliscreations.blogspot.com/

11) Lisa  http://addictedtothecricut.blogspot.com/

12) Gonecampn  http://www.scrapcavecreations.com/

13) Momto2cuties  http://www.inlovewithpaper.blogspot.com/

14) Scrapalette  http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/

15) Paper Memories  http://papermemories4u.blogspot.com/ (New Blog)

16)Darcy  http://dlmbscrapping-time2create.blogspot.com/

17)Lavendergal  http://ibecircled.blogspot.com/

19) HappyScrapper64  http://happyscrapper64.blogspot.com/

20) Madylyn  http://inspiredbycolor.blogspot.com/

21)Nancy  http://lanancyworkshop.blogspot.com/

22)Debbie  http://bugginattheseams.blogspot.com/

23)Tracy  http://www.scrappininthewoods.blogspot.com/

24)Sharon  http://designsbysharon.blogspot.com/