HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON!!!!!

One of my students from Provo came over to work on his Vinyl Project for Halloween.  Gordon's Birthday is on Halloween and he shares his fun with his neighbors by decorating his Lawn with some unique home made creations.  As you can see from this Vinyl project on REAL Granite-he has some very creative ideas!!!  This was alot of fun to work on-don't you just love Cricut & Vinyl!!!

Spooky Layout

I created this layout for Cooking with Cricut Challenge #3 Not so Spooky Halloween

(I used Plantin & Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridges)

The sponsor this week is Regina from Cutting Cafe.  Her website has some fantastic Digital Stamps & Cut files that are so much fun to use.  The downloads are quick & easy and so incredibly cute.  Be sure and check out her site with the link above.  Also join the fun on the Cooking with Cricut Blog for your chance to win 3 stamps from The Cutting Cafe.  Have a Happy Halloween!!

Is it time for Christmas yet???

Well some of you know that I'm a Christmas Fanatic!  I was born on Christmas Eve and I think its affected my mind.  I've seen snow now so I'm ready.  I'm going to break out the sweaters, pullout my warm fuzzy slippers and start working on the Christmas Project Ideas.  I have a couple mini's in the works, along with a new calendar and a cook book.  Lots planned so please check back regularly.  For my first project I have a simple layout with Santa.  I'm calling it simply Christmas (you can add Time, Traditions, Memories) to the title to personalize.

Hope you like it.

Frankie lights up my life!!!

I created this Frankie using a clear plastic paper clip box and crepe paper.  I used my Gypsy to make his hair so that it would wrap all the way around box lid, cut white vinyl eyes and a stitch mouth and stitches above his eyes.    Just put in a blinking  light and this cutie is going in the window on Halloween.  For anyone interested in the boxes I have a whole bunch.  Cost is $1.50 plain $2.50 decorated as Frankie.

New Cartridges

More new cartridges coming-I will post pictures soon as possible.

• Winter Lace
• Trim the Tree
• Gingerbread

I am working on some Christmas items to post soon and I will also post some other fun Halloween items on Saturday.  

If you haven't heard the news PC has also made a Cricut Cake Mini.  Its more affordable and just the right size for cupcakes and mini projects.  JoAnn's got some in stock this week if you have to have one soon.

Road Trip Video-Elko Swarm

Whenever Cricuts gather you have a Swarm and this past Saturday I was holding a Cricut Swarm in Elko.  I took my friend Anne and we had too much fun.  Here is a glimpse.

New Cartridges

Here are some new ones to look out for:  Don't forget to get your updates.

• Paper Lace
• Quarter Note
• Sesame Street Seasons
• Wrap It Up
• Car Decals
• Ornamental Iron

Elko Nevada

Greetings from Elko, Nevada

Had a lovely time at our Cricut Swarm Today!!!!!!!  These ladies were the best--Peggy was awesome and so well organized.  The food was great the Texas Caviar Debbi made was soooooo tasty-I will try to see if she will share a recipe with us.  Peggy's chicken chile with homemade roles was so delicious and the perfect dish to take off the chill in the air.  Wanda made such a delicious salad that not a crouton was left!  We made a Fall Hello Card, Covered a mini composition book for our Cricut Notes, laminated book marks, had a few giveaways, learned to cut vinyl, etched a glass candy jar, made embossed foil embellishments, cut fun foam shapes, made acetate shapes, learned to use cricut markers, and even managed to take home some fun Cricut  Homework projects.  All in just 8 short hours!!!!  I love my Elko Friends!!!!!!

Be sure to tune in next week for some funny road trip clips and pictures of the FUN GROUP.

Talk Time Tuesday-Time Management

Since there is no chance any of us will get more than 24 hours to use in a day-let's share some advice for getting the most out of your day.  Many of you SUPER WOMEN out there are taking on 2-3 maybe more roles on at once, and find very little time for yourselves and your hobbies.  As the Holiday Season approaches our creative side gnaws at us just a little more than usual and our kids are starting to have Fall Recess, Winter Recess and other miscellaneous breaks from school that use up even more of our spare time.  So what ways have you found to help you BE CREATIVE or BE REJUVENATED???  Post a comment and share with us how we can all get through this holiday season feeling like we managed our time well.

Many of you know that sleep is a BIG issue for me (or should I say the lack of sleep is a big issue for me) and I would never suggest anyone try going with less sleep.  I would however recommend when possible going to sleep just a bit earlier at least once a week so that you can get up just a bit earlier the next morning and enjoy the peaceful sound of your home before the rest of the family wakes up for their day.  You would be amazed how uplifting an hour to yourself--to read a book, make a card, bake a box of ready mix muffins or take a walk around your block can be.  My husband invited me to "get some air" last night after dinner--and I can't tell you how nice it was to take 3 steps out my front door-sit on our park bench- and listen to the wind through the leaves of our tree.  Even though the rest of the day felt like a scramble those 10 minutes to just sit and breathe made the day end on a restful note.  (By the way our kids thought we were so weird to sit out front that they left us alone for those 10 minutes!)

Gypsy Info

New information from Provo Craft--Gypsy owners please review the following:

Buy and register a Gypsy by Cricut by October 31 and receive 6 free cartridges downloaded to your Gypsy – including the exclusive, all-new “Smiley Cards” cartridge (and don’t forget about Gypsy Wanderings and Gypsy font cartridges that come pre-loaded on the machine).

Free cartridges include:

Smiley Cards (new and exclusive to this promotion)

Tags, Bags, Boxes and More (not available in retail)

Christmas (not available in retail)

Blackletter (not available in retail)

Printing Press (not available in retail)

Indie Art (not available in retail)

All current Gypsy owners included! Simply register your Gypsy prior to October 31, 2010 and get access to all downloads. Register at www.cricut.com/gypsy.

Downloads will be available through a special update to your Gypsy starting November 1st.

New Gypsy cartridge downloads are easy! Just connect your Gypsy to your computer and you’ll automatically be prompted how to start. In just a few steps, you’ll be able to download all six cartridges containing thousands of images! And with Gypsy, you’ll have all the cartridge artwork and keypad overlays on your Gypsy screen, so there’s no actual cartridge, handbook, or packaging.

This is all I know so far.  If your Gypsy is already registered it sounds like you need to do it again to get access to these downloads.  For those that own & have linked the now discontinued cartridges listed--still make the attempt to re-register your Gypsy to get the new unreleased Smiley Cards.  I will keep you posted when I know more.

Sweet Treats

I have a great Halloween Decor idea recently created by Creative Cutter Wendy.  She used some of the Cricut Halloween Carts to make these fun Treat Bowl Signs.  Try some as part of your Halloween Decorating this year--they are sure to be a HIT!

Scrapbook Outlet

 One of my Scrappy friends just posted the following info on Facebook:

To all my scrapbooking friends... Denise and I found a scrapbook outlet in Woods Cross. Everything in the front of the store was 20% off, everything thing in the back was 40% off and all Halloween was 55% off. The store had tons of new things, lots of doodlebug and paper galore! It is Scrapbook Clearance Outlet 544 W 750 S