School Days

A friend of mine is going back to teaching primary school after taking a year off on maternity leave. She's not looking forward to leaving her daughter at day care so I thought I'd send her a card of encouragement.

I just love the blue letters that top the crisp white background and adhered to a black cardstock. I think the black really gives it a dramatic look. I then added the red apple which I added to the front of the card using pop dots. You can see inside of the card that the same apple appears with a bite out of it. It looks good enough to continue eating!

Anyway, to all the teachers both very new and seasoned individual who bring so much enthusiasm to the classroom - good luck on your first day and enjoy yourselves. You do a very important task at teaching youngsters how to socialize, behave when asked and guide them in their quest to learn. You are truly invaluable.

It's a Jungle Out There

This week's at Cricut Cards Challenge, we had to create a juvenile birthday card using an animal that you would find in a jungle. I chose the cute and playful elephant found on the New Arrivals Cricut cartridge. It has a round shape and looks like a small baby elephant which I thought was just right for this card. I cut the elephant using a pink paper which had a cute star burst design. I shaded portions of the elephant using my Copic markers and added googlie eyes and a hot pink bow. Perfect for that little girl who will receive the card.

What would an elephant need nearby but a cute palm tree so she can stretch her back and trunk. The palm tree was cut using the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge. I think the foliage looks very realistic after embossing it.

Both the elephant and the palm tree were mounted on a background made up of a torn piece of cardstock on top of a turquoise base. And a simple "birthday wishes" is stamped nearby.

Come and join us for this challenge and let's see what jungle creature you can bring to life on a child's birthday card. See you later alligator!

I did it!!!

I finally bought myself a Gypsy!!! I know what you're thinking..."what took her so long". My thoughts exactly. I guess it was the price and then I thought it was duplicating the equipment I already had. I bought the Design Studio software two years ago and never had much luck with it. After numerous calls to the support line and not really getting anywhere except for them to say that it was one of the older programs. I also thought that working on a computer screen would be easier for viewing than working on a small Gypsey screen.

On Thursday I was in a WalMart and they had numerous scrapbooking products on sale. To my surprise there was a brand new Gypsey at such a reasonable price, I just couldn't resist. Last night I ran the updates and today I loaded all my cartridges. I went on the Creations with Christina website and watched her series on getting to know and using your Gypsey. She explained all the features perfectly - thanks Christina. After that, I went to my craft room where I stayed all day and created some lovely projects in record time.

What I like most about the Gypsey is that I can see exactly where on the mat the image will cut and whether it will cut down or across the mat. That way, I can save making multiple cuts to get my image. I place the paper in the proper location and cut. I haven't tried welding yet but I don't think that will cause me any problems.

I don't know why I waited so long to get this fabulous creative tool. I am enjoying every minute!!!

I've Been Away in Ireland

Well. It's been a while since my last blog but I have a very good reason. I have been away in Ireland. My sister and I had a chance to visit to the country where my Mother was born. The church in Dublin where she was baptised still stands and it was our intention to visit it and then travel to Clonikilty, a small town on the picturesque southern coast of Ireland to attend a wedding.

Our adventure started off with problems at the airport. It was a good thing that we got to the airport early and checked in. Apparently the airline changed planes due to mechanical difficulty and they re-seated all the passengers. My sister and I had paid for preferred seating but when the airline reassigned the seating in the smaller plane, she got the preferred seating but I was assigned to the back in regular seats. We also checked our seat assignment on the return flight and once again, we were not going to be seated together but instead we would be "near" each other. Great! Something to look forward to. The only good thing was that I might get a refund for the extra charge on my preferred seat but the down side was that I would be sitting in steerage so who knows if I'll be able to sleep...despite the neck roll, blanket, eye shades and ear plugs!

When we were finally able to get on the plane, a very nice man changed seats with me...if you can imagine...and let me sit with my sister. What an unselfish act of kindness that we really appreciated.

After arriving in Dublin, we found our downtown hotel quickly before heading out to explore the city. I have travelled in numerous cities but I must say that Dublin is on my list of favourites along with San Fransisco, Barcelona and Buenas Ares. It is very pedestrian friendly and charming. We used the hop-on hop-off bus service which was invaluable and with tickets valid for for two days, it was worth every penny.

Finally we found the church where my Mom was baptised. It is located in the heart of the city near Trinity College. We went inside this lovely old church, lit a candle for my Mom and said a prayer for her. She died some years ago and never had a chance to revisit the country of her birth.

More about my trip on another installment.