Celebrate - with style

I discovered this adorable chandelier stamp at Michaels and couldn't wait to use it. Then I discovered the chandelier paper and knew it was a match made in heaven!The word "Celebrate" and the chandelier shades are dusted with black glitter... very elegant looking in person!

Pins and needles

I'm on a roll with the card making lately...
Just created this card following a sketch my sister told me about.
I found this pin trio on the New Arrival Cricut cartridge and thought it would be fun to try and use it for this card.

Hummm... what will I try next?

Little House

I glanced over the call list for CARDS and found they wanted cards with a house icon.
So this is what I came up with. (any of it look familiar?) I used a new Cricut cartridge called Wild Card for the little house.

Cupcake-a-thon

When I was at Target the other day a 6 pack of Jolee's boutique cupcake stickers caught my eye. I fell in love with the colors and texture of them. They were my inspiration for my latest card creations. It felt so good to be creating again that I couldn't stop with just one.
Here's a little peek at my latest cupcake card creations.....

Yea me!

I'm so excited about a new project I just finished! (Ryan is too)
I created a vinyl photo for Ryan to put on the back of his truckNow let me back up and explain how this all came about....
It started when I found a program that allows me to cut regular True Type fonts with my Cricut. (Normally I would need to use a cartridge for that) This naturally, opened up a wonderful new world of possibilities for me. I could now create my very own cute vinyl phrases and decor that is so popular right now.
But wait.... there's more....
This program (SCAL) also introduced me to another program (Inkscape) that allows me to convert bitmap images to svg files that the SCAL will recognize and cut.
So, in plain English.... I scanned in the image of the Cape Buffalo from a clothing tag, loaded it into Inkscape, played, tweaked, and eventually converted it to a cleaner image to cut. Then I loaded it onto SCAL and voila.... I can cut as many Cape Buffalo images as I like in whatever size I like. (This one is 12 x 9)I'm not saying it was easy, but it was so fun to learn how to do this. (Tons of trial and error time!) In fact the first time I converted it, I couldn't remember what I did so I had to figure it out so I could do it again.
Now I can really create anything and cut it out with paper, vinyl, fabric... the possibilities are endless!
(Think there's a big need for Cape Buffalo vinyls out there?)

Digital Diva

Ok, so maybe I'm not quite a diva yet, but I've been playing around with my Christmas gift - Photoshop Elements. I've figured out a few things and thought I'd share what I've been able to create so far.
I sat through hours of a tutorial and was able to create this page of Parker...
It has many different effects (some I'm not sure if I can create again without using the tutorial)
Then I played around with colorizing the photo of Parker...
Turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!
So then I was feeling brave and decided to tackle my blog background.
You can check out the "New Year" background and header for my personal blog here at Ginger's Jingle . (now I won't need to bug my sister every time I want to change it)

Last but not least I was feeling pretty secure in my abilities so I created an invitation for Parker's (and friends) upcoming Arrow of Light ceremony. I had 50 printed up as a 4x6 photo to give out to everyone involved in scouts (and some family)

Right now I'm working on a February background for my blog.
I can tell it's going to take ALOT of practice and patience to get this digital thing down, but I'm a willing pupil.
Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT going to give up my hand-crafted art of Scrapbooking. There's just something about the texture and dimention that makes me so happy.
However, Digital scrapping will find it's little place in my creativity nook!

Putting it all together

This year was a close call...
I almost didn't get my Christmas cards finished in time to mail out to family and friends

I start planning and purchasing supplies in July.
My family makes fun of me because I start so early.
(They get more mad when I make them take holiday photo's.)
The planning process isn't easy. I try out many different color and paper combo's before deciding on the right one. This year I went out on a limb and chose a non traditional color combination.
Red, brown, white and blue...When I showed my mother in law she was not too excited about my color choices, but had faith in my abilities to make it work. I changed the design a couple of time until I was finally happy with the look and design of the card.
Over the next few weeks I'd cut out paper and assemble pieces whenever I had the chance. Finally I had all the makings of a card, all 70 of them..... assembly required!
It took a couple evenings to get the final product put together, but finally HERE IT IS!
The heart has glitter around the edges and the circle reads...
"keep Christmas in your heart"
It ended up being a tri-fold card... super fun and easy!
Parker was concerned that no one would figure out how to open it, but I assured him it wouldn't be too difficult. (sorry if someone had a problem)
So that's it....the making of the Dennett family Christmas Card for 2008....
Now to start planning for 2009... Christmas in July takes on a whole new meaning for me!