It's been a long time

Here I went and did it again. I let this thing go for too long and now I don't even know where to begin. Not a lot to catch up on though. Still deciding if that is a good or bad thing, hmmmm.... We had a nice Thanksgiving and I think the kids really enjoyed their Christmas. I won't bore you with pictures of all of it since there are a lot. If you'd like to see them just click on the 'My Photos' link over in the sidebar. They are all in my Picasa web albums.

I guess I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth just haven't been logging onto facebook much or updating this blog obviously. Not sure why, just haven't had the desire to do so. I get so wrapped up in scrapbook sites that time flies and before I know it I don't have time to do anything else (computer related that is) with the exception of work. Ugh! That four letter word.

Anyway, the kids are doing great. I'm still fighting Kaylie with the potty training - well not fighting but she is so darn stubborn! I can't imagine where she gets it from either ;) One of these days we'll get it though. I'm so tired of the diaper thing already.

I'm still making SVG's but I didn't get anything ready to share this time. I so need to find a better way to organize these things. I have so many!! I also found a new program that looks to be a pretty good competitor to SCAL. It's called Make the Cut
and I have to say it is pretty awesome. Much more user friendly too. One thing I love about it too is that they have a gallery that you can link to right from the program where you can share and download svg's or mct files.

Alrighty time for some pictures. You didn't think I wouldn't post a few, did you?

I had so many favorites from the old time photos I had done of the kids that I got a bunch! Here are a couple of the ones I liked the most - and of course I had to scrap them!




And here is one I did of me and my brother (my first Christmas). I'm really happy with how it turned out even though the pictures aren't great (they were scanned from slides).
That's about it for now. I'd say with the new year and all I'd keep this up better but I know me ;) Maybe I'll surprise myself.

Have a wonderful new year!!

Lots of Stuff

To catch up on. I know I've really let this go again and I apologize. Between all that has been happening, feeling guilty for spending too much time on the computer (another post altogether) and sick kids, I've been a little busy. I did accomplish a lot in the mean time though.

Tyler got his school pictures back. They turned out cute but he did that funky smile again. He so tries not to squint with the flash (like his momma does ) so I end up with this smile:



















I still think it's an adorable picture but I'm a little biased though.

We did get to take our trip to the pumpkin patch but it was a bust. It didn't rain that day but it did the week before and the place was pretty flooded. I did get a few cute pictures. I love this one of the hayride:



















And here you can see how wet it really was:

All in all we had a pretty fun day and got some pretty good pumpkins.

And here is what we did with them:







































Then we celebrated Kaylie's birthday on the 30th instead of the 31st. I decided it would be wiser not to mix birthday cake and Halloween candy in one day. I think she had fun - she liked the cake anyway:


That's what I get for going next door to my mom's to wrap her gifts and leave Pete in charge of watching the kids!
Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to Cindy and Brent's for a BBQ and some trick or treating on base. The kids looked so cute and had a lot of fun. This was Tyler's first year of traditional trick or treating. We usually took the kids to the mall where they could trick or treat from store to store. It's a warm safe place and normally it's raining here on Halloween. We lucked out this year. We sure are going to miss The Deerings when they move to Guam next year.
I have some more pictures of the kids that I'm dying to post but I can't right now as they are going to be Christmas gifts for some of the family. Let's just say we did the Antiquities photo shoot and they turned out adorable!!

Ok now for the creations. I made these cute things for Tyler's class:

They went over really well. The kids loved them and I think the teacher loved them even more. I had fun making them too.

Here I did an 8x8 canvas of my Grandparents (my mom's mom and dad). It was the first time I've done one. It was fun. I have a 12 x 12 I want to do next.

And a layout I did a little while ago but hadn't posted here yet. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.


Here are some notebooks I altered for MOPS. We are putting together baskets for teen moms in our area. We will be putting words of wisdom and encouragement for them in them. I thought they looked kind of plain but everyone seemed to like how they turned out.
And now what a lot of you have really been waiting for. Yes, I did do some svg files. I have not cut these yet but they should work. Let me know if you have any problems with them. Click on the picture to download.


Enjoy! And I'll try not to be such a stranger!

I dropped the ball....

sorry about that. I've been doing so well keeping this updated and then boom - I dropped the ball. In my defense though, Pete has been gone the last 2 weeks and I had to be a 'single mom' for a bit. It wasn't too bad though but I did let some things go. I did get a lot of svg's made but I haven't cut any. I'll post a few of them at the end with a link. I'd post them all but there are just way too many so I'll give them away a little at a time. Besides, I need some way to get you all back here to read this

As I said, Pete had been gone for 2 weeks for work but he made it home safe and sound Friday night. And....drum roll please.....he passed his last test with a 95! Woot woot! So proud of him. On top of that, he doesn't have to go back anymore - yippee!!! He's all done and is now a Journeyman Signalman/Maintainer. So glad it's all over.

Unfortunately I haven't gotten any new layouts done but I am working on some cute treat cups I'm making for Tyler's class for Halloween. I should have them done soon so I will post a picture of them. I'm pretty happy with the way they are turning out. I've also started a layout with some pictures that Pete took of the kids today. They turned out adorable! It was a perfect day for some fall pictures with the exception of not too many leaves You can see the pictures he took by going here - the top 3 rows are the ones he took today.

Hoping to go to the pumpkin patch soon - love the photo ops there and taking the kids is a lot of fun.

I have an appt this weekend for the kids to have old time photos done. MOPS is doing a fund raiser with a photo place called Antiquities and this is what we will be doing. I'm excited. I missed it last year as I did not join MOPS until around December. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

We also have to squeeze Kaylie's birthday party in there somewhere. I'm debating on whether or not to do it on her actual birthday or not. I think if I wait and do it the same day it may be too much to have a party and then go trick or treating. So I'm thinking of doing it either the night before or the weekend before. We'll have to see how it works out.

I also wanted to take them to the Zoo Boo but it doesn't look like we will be able to fit that in too. Have to play it by ear. Lots going on this month!

Oh and I'm hoping to get family pictures done soon. NOT this month but hopefully next. We're going to try out JcPenney and see how they are. I really liked the ones we did last year at The Picture People. And I loved having them same day but JcPenney is closer and I've heard good things about them too so we'll see.

Alrighty I will quit rambling and get to what a lot of you came for

Here are the svg's for this post - and remember - I have not cut these so I'm not positive they will work but they should.
Click on the photo to download the file.....


Until next time - have a great week!

Layouts and leftovers

Ok not really leftovers but it was a catchy title don't ya think?

It's been a pretty busy week for me. I had to prepare for MOPS and get my responsibilities for that done. I had to work my 5 hours each day (which I still have time to make up - will do that after I post this) and had to gets things ready for Pete to leave today for his 2 weeks of school. Thank goodness this is his last session and won't have to go back anymore! Woot woot!

I'm kinda shocked that I got a layout done and some SVG files. I haven't been able to test cut them yet though. I will post them anyway with the disclaimer that there is the possibility they will not work and I'll have to fix them. They should work but I'm not making any promises.

Here is the layout I did. It is of my dad when he was around 12 (he's 78 now!) and his brother (who passed away in 2007). I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. And so proud of myself that I didn't use a sketch. Normally I can't scrap without at least starting with one but this one just kind of came together by itself.


And here are the SVG files that I have made.

Click on the picture to download the file. If you do happen to cut them please let me know if they work or not so I can fix them if I need to.

Have a great week!

More SVG's!

First of all I want to say thanks to everyone for the nice comments and just being so darn friendly. It really made my day to see that you all liked the cuts as much as I do.

I am currently working on some more cuts but it probably won't be until this weekend or so before I can get them posted. I did do a few today that I will post but I don't feel they are as cute as the first set I posted. Don't get me wrong, I like them and I think they'll look cute especially when used by a lot of you talented ladies, they just aren't as fancy I guess you'd say. I do have some more fancy ones in the works though.

So without further ado - since I know that's the real reason you are here

Again, just click on the picture to get the file. Oh a little note about the butterfly cut - it's not cutting the circles for the flowers too well, not sure if I know how to fix that yet. So in the mean time I just used a hole punch and it worked fine.

Enjoy!

SCAL Crazy!!

I've had a new addiction lately and that is seeing what images I can convert to SVG to cut with Sure Cuts A Lot and my cricut. I've had so much fun doing this and had a lot of people asking me how I did it and where I found the images, etc. Well I just did a google search for the type of thing I was looking for ie. flourish and then found the images I wanted. After that I used Inkscape (a free program that Sure Cuts A Lot recommends) and went to town. I had a lot of trial and error and some pictures just don't convert well. Especially the low resolution images you get off the net at times. I really enjoyed doing these and seeing what I could make. I still have a lot more that I haven't cut yet but I thought I'd be sweet and share the ones I have made so far.
If you'd like any of these cuts in these pictures just click on the picture and you will be able to download them yourself. I will be working on some more so hopefully I can have those up soon. Oh and I hear that SVG files are used for the silhouette so if you have that you can use these files too. Oh and I've included pictures of the cuts in the files too so you can see what they are. I only ask one favor if you download - please leave me a comment. I'd love to know who is downloading them. Also, I'd love to see your creations with them as well!

***ETA: some of these cuts are not 'perfect cuts'. They are still really pretty though and look great. However if you're looking for exact then you may not want to download them. I can only make them as good as the picture I can find.

Happy Crafting!

Lookie what I've been doing...

Recently I've joined a great new kit club called Swirlydoos and I'm lovin' it! (No I haven't replaced Simply Obsessed - I'm still with them and love them too!) I've learned a lot of new things from there and a few on my own. For one I have learned how to make 'faux' bling. You know the prima bling we all love to buy but is so darn expensive. Well here's my take on it:


I do need to practice a bit more but I think they are turning out pretty good. I bought some liquid pearls to do it with but found out in the long run puffy paint is cheaper and works better.

I've also recently purchased SCAL (sure cuts a lot) for the cricut and have had a blast finding images on line to make SVG files out of to cut. Here are a few of the things I've done with that:


I have to say I have fallen in love with this program. It is awesome. There are endless possibilities of what you can cut.

And oh yes I have made a new layout with the new kit I'm getting. I have another one in my head I'm going to do but I've gotten side tracked reading 'The Time Traveler's Wife' - I haven't gotten that far but just by what I've read so far I know I'm going to love the movie. Ok, sorry, back on topic. Here's the layout:



I used some of the 'faux' bling I made. I'm addicted to making these now for some reason. They are so fun and you can make them all sizes and colors.


In other news, I had my first MOPS meeting of the year last Friday. I believe it went pretty well. I'm terrible at getting up in front of people and talking but I did ok. Whew! Now I can sit in a group, even a large group and talk to everyone at one time, no problem. But get me up in front of the crowd - well let's just say it's not that pretty All in all though it was a fun morning and it went pretty smoothly.

That's about it that I can think of for now. I'm sure there's more but I'm tired and want to get back to my book!