September Swap 8 X 8 Holiday Cookie Reciope Layout

This is a layout I did for a Swap over on the Cricut Message Boards way back in September. It was our September swap but not due until December 1st. It was a Holiday Cookie Recipe Swap and I had to make 16 of these. I had a blast though. I used my Cricut Expression with SCAL for the lettering, and then Paper Doll Dress Up for the Gingerbread Boy and Girl, and My Community for the Gingerbread House. Stickles were my friend on this one because I think I stickled everything that could possibly be stickled. I also took a white opaque marker and did a lot of doodling around a lot of things. I thought it turned out fairly well. Here are a couple of closeups.

I Am Back!!

Hi Everyone!! I am back and I am going to try to be a lot more consistent with my blogging. It just seems like the time gets away from me sometimes. I have been having a few problems with my disabilities and another personal matter, but things are better now and really looking up. I am working hard towards getting a housekeeper sometime in the next couple of months and that is something that will help me tremendously!! I do well with the day to day pick up, clean up, dishes, laundry and that type of thing, and if I can sit to do it great!! But, if it involves me standing for more than a very few minutes I just can't do it. Well, I can, but it takes me hours because I have to go sit so much. What I used to do in a couple of hours on a Saturday morning now takes me all week!!

My daughter and I discussed it and I have come to realize I am struggling so hard to keep up my house I don't have time to do the things I actually enjoy. I have a craft room I have been trying to get together for a year and a half now, and while it is getting closer to being done it is going really really slow. I still have a ton of stuff to sort through and organize yet and I just feel too guilty going in there to work or create when there is so much else in the house that needs to be done.

I have been able to make a few things in the last few months that I will be posting over the next few days. I am getting the camera out tomorrow and taking some pictures during the daylight. I usually take pictures of everything I make but somehow I missed a couple of things. I want to post them in the order I made them and of course the very first thing on my list doesn't have pictures...lol.

One thing I am very proud of, and doesn't involve crafts at all, is that my oldest grandson Devin (19) recieved his nomination into the United States Air Force Academy. He has been attending the prep school up there this last year as a cadet candidate and now come June 24th he will be a Freshman Cadet. His mother, my daughter, has done a wonderful job raising this boy and I couldn't be more proud if he were my own. I love you Dev!! Here is a picture, and yes, I am bragging just a little bit...lol.

OK, I am going to try to get a few more things done before I chill for the night. Look for more posts of some projects in the next few days. I am excited about showing them to you!! Hugs, Pam

My First Cards EVER!!

Hi Everyone!! I had 2 birthdays in December, My Mothers was the 12th and my Daughters was the 26th so I decided to try my hand at making a couple of cards. I have never made a card in my life so this was a whole new venture for me. After asking a bazillion questions over on the Cricut Message Boards ( Thanks Night Owls ) I decided to use some premade cards I had and just do the fronts. I made them both the same. I used SCAL to cut the font and I used Bazill Bling for the background. Everything else is from my stash. I did realize that I need to buy some sentiment stamps though. I hope you like them!! This first one had a bad glare on it so I took a couple of others. You get the idea!!

Craft Room Update.

Well, how about some pictures!! I am by no means done with the craft room but I have been making a lot of progress. I just have sooooo much stuff to clean and sort out and organize that I am starting to wonder if this isn't a lifetime project, and if I will ever be able to grab my coffee in the morning and go sit and just craft...lol. That is my ultimate goal but I don't see it happening anytime soon. If you have been following my blog since the beginning you know what a mess I started out with a year ago. We packed it all up and moved it mostly into my back bedroom and pretty much all over the house...lol. We painted and put up shelving and arranged and rearranged the furniture and changed our minds a ton of times...lol. Well, I have the all over the house part tamed now and have started on that back bedroom. OMG!! What a mess!! NEVER have 3 TALL teenage boys move boxes and bins into a room without CLOSE supervision...lol. I had to have one of them stop by one day just to get some of the stuff that was stacked ABOVE MY HEAD down...lol. Slowly but surely I am making some progress with it though. Some days it overwhelms me though and I just have to walk away. I just wish this cold weather would go away so my arthritis would let up some and I could walk a little better. It would sure go a bit faster I think...lol. So, here are some pictures. You can click on them to make them larger.

This first one is a bunch of unfinished crochet projects and yarn I sorted out to go on my needlework shelves and in my yarn bins when I finally get to them. I am also scrubbing down all containers, drawers etc... as I go so this is actually more of a project than it looks. EVERYTHING is soooo dusty and dirty from sitting so long!! I am just glad that I was organized enough back then to containerize everything. Oh, this is happening in my living room...lol.

These are my needlework shelves before I put all the above away. They were turning into a catch all since they are right inside the door from the kitchen.

I nipped the catch all shelves in the bud though and got them all cleaned off and got everything put away on them. My sewing machine is on top with room to expand if I need it. Crochet books on the next 2 shelves down. Plastic Canvas books, yarn and canvas all on the next shelf. General Craft books and then Cross Stitch on the next shelf. Under the shelves it worked out perfect for my unfinished projects and a set of drawers to hold all my crochet hooks, knitting needles, sewing notions etc..

These are my scrappy shelves and Jet Max cubes. I have been labeling as I go and trying to organize them more but I keep finding more of what I have already done to add so decided I am going to get like with like and then organize it after I get it more together. The cubes on the left are actually going to go under the TV whenever I get one of my strong grandsons over to put them there for me. My shelves aren't necessarily going to be very pretty but they sure will be functional...lol.

These are all markers etc.. that I got all sorted out and labelled. They are ready to go on my "Wet" Shelves.I am hoping I can find some more of these containers because I have a ton more buried in that back room yet.

This is how I decided to do my stampers. I have all my wooden rubber stamps sorted and labelled in the clear containers by what they are. Then I have all my clear stamps in the zippered binders. I like them for the Studio G stamps but I am not thrilled with the binders for the bigger sheets of stamps. I am checking into CD or DVD cases instead. I have a few in some cd cases and I like it a lot better.

You can see my paper/cardstock drawers on the left here and then this is what I call my "Wet" Area and shelves. Again, still a lot of organizing and work to do here too. My wet area will hold all my stamps, markers, inks, paints, anything "wet". I have 3 paint racks on the desk for all my little bottles of paint. and a whole lot of stuff to go on these shelves yet that I haven't found in that darned back bedroom...lol. OH, those are all my punches hanging on the door to the garage storage.

This is my office area. I have a ton of office supplies and I have just been stacking the boxes in the garage for now. This will be the last area that I really get organized and finished. Who cares if the bills get paid. I want to do my CRAFTS!!!   LOL

These drawers are what I am working on now. Cleaning and sorting them out. I have 8 of them total and put 3 in the corner of my craft tables and put my Making Memories Carousel on them. I really want to keep these drawers because they are great for bigger things.I am going to see if I can fit them in next to the Jet Max cubes the TV is going to be on. We shall see.

Just one of those drawers is full of adhesives. This is why I can't justify buying an ATG gun right now, though I would love to have one. I think I need to use some of this up first. I TOLD you I have a lot of stuff...lol.

And THIS is all that is left to go through in that back bedroom. Thank goodness all the big bins will go into the garage storage. They just need cleaned up and labelled but are for the most part organized.

And this is the little bit of carpet space I have won so far in that room...lol. It doesn't look like much but I am pretty proud of it since I haven't seen any of it in a while. I keep telling myself slow and steady wins the race, but boy it would be nice to have all this done.

And that is my progress so far. I am trying to have the back bedroom cleared out by March 1st. I think I am going to call and see if I can get my daughter to come help me one Saturday. It is really hard for me to do all the carrying and moving the heavy stuff by myself and she is a great help. Plus if I can get one of the boys to help too that would be WONDERFUL!! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!! Believe me, I know I have a long ways to go yet but I have a good start!!

Craft Room Update...Again

WOW, it's been a while since I posted. Sorry about that. Things have been up and down around here and I am STILL working on that craft room. It's so hard when you have to have help with the heavy stuff and the high stuff too...lol. I hate being vertically challenged ( short ), but then I am a little ( lot ) horizontally challenged too...lol. Never-the-less I am still plugging away at it. The shelves are filling up with all my "stuff" pretty quickly. I am finding I am going to have to be highly organized to fit it all in there. I have been doing a ton of organizing as I am going too so that makes everything take 10 times longer. I just have so much I am wondering if I will EVER have this room done...lol.

We did make one big step a couple of weeks ago. My Daughter came over and we cleaned out the front of the garage finally. I hauled a truckload of stuff to Goodwill and I have a few things I am going to get listed on Craigslist this next week when our weather gets better. I can finally get at all the bins that were hidden clear in the back on the shelves!! YAYYYYYY!!! But, I'm not going to drag them in just yet. I have GOT to get that spare bedroom cleaned out before I do anything else. It still looks exactly like it did last spring when we filled it up. You can open the door but you can't go in.

I will be done with a swap in the next couple of days and then I am going to start pulling the smaller stuff out of the front of that room and dealing with it. My grandkids are out of school after the 18th and 2 of the boys said they would come help me empty all the bins out on one of their days off. They are all going into the garage, thus we had to do the garage first to make room. I bet there are over 50 of the big clear bins in there and tons of the plastic drawers too. We pretty much have it figured out how we are going to put them in the garage so I will have 2 aisles and be able to get at everything I need. I am just praying they will all fit like we planned or I am scrooged...lol. My goal is to have that bedroom all emptied out and cleaned by February 1st. It WAS January 1st but like I said. When you have to wait for help that makes it hard. OK, I am heading into the craft room to work on that swap. Have a great day!!

Craft Room Update

Hi Everyone!! Well, I have been working my franny off in the craft room and I think all I am doing is making a bigger mess! I unloaded a bunch of bins and boxes of mostly books and magazines so now I have all that to get straightened up. I just set them up on the shelves that I wanted them to be on and I still need to sort through them and get them in magazine holders etc... AND I know I have more yet because I am missing several years of some scrap magazines I had subscriptions for. I think that is the most frustrating part of trying to put this room together is that everything is scattered and I keep finding more after I think I have it all together. I decided to get rid of that brown credenza and it now has a new home in a campground office up in the mountains. I got an old desk from a friend and decided I wanted to use it in my "wet" area where I will do stamping and decorative painting and things involving anything wet. The desk is the perfect size to hold my 3 paint racks and then still have room to work and drawers for storage. I ended up putting 3 coats of paint on that thing and still touching it up some because I didn't realize the drawers went in further than I thought. We spray painted the handles an aluminum color and I love it!! We got it moved in the other day and I started loading it up last night. I moved my Jet Max cubes to the yellow wall and right now I am trying to figure out a way to get my paper drawers to fit next to them so I can sit when I am looking through them for paper or cardstock. I think I have it figured out. Geesh...lol. Now I have to move the cubes down about 4 more inches. SO I just wanted to show you my new to me desk.

Here are the drawers before I painted them. I had already taken the handles off at this point and washed them down real good. The pictures of the desk didn't come out very good but the whole desk pretty much looked like this.


And here is my finished product!! It turned out soooo good. I just love it!!

And of course since it is going to be my "wet" desk it has to have the "bling" drawer. Of course I have already rearranged it a couple of times. OHHH, and my stickle holder I made!! Stephanie, from the Cricut Message Boards had made one and was courteous enough to share how she did it. I measured mine so it would fit in the desk drawer and I even have room still to expand my collection. I want to make another small one for on my desktop for the colors I am currently using. That way I can still keep them upside down. Plus I want to make one with bigger holes for the Ice Stickles.

Mermaid Tags

I have been busy making Mermaid tags for our little swap this month! I have been having a blast and decided to enter them in a couple of contests. Thank goodness for Oh My Crafts Stickles sale because I used a ton of them on these tags. Believe me, they are a LOT more sparkly than what these pictures show. I am going to have to go order more because I did empty a few bottles. Most of the cardstock and paper is from my stash or the open stock at Michael's. I also used the Dolly Dumpling Face Stamps from Peachy Keen Stamps. I love Peachy Keen and buy their stamps every chance I get. They are such nice people over there too. Ok, Here are My Mermaid Tags. All the cuts are from PPDU.


Both Tags


My Girl Mermaid


My Boy Mermaid

Twinchies

OMG!! I finally got my craft room tables cleaned off enough that I could get in there and actually do a little crafting. I even got my Cricut Expression set up so I could use it too! I am so excited!! Of course it was madness in the midst of mayhem but I had sooo much fun! It just made me want to get that room together and all my stuff unpacked all the more. I am pretty limited in what I can do right now without all my "stuff"...lol. Anyways, I made Twinchies for a small swap I was in over on the Cricut Message Boards Night Owls Thread. Now, understand, I have not done any kind of real scrapping or crafting in years!! The swap was Twinchies with a red, white and blue theme. Here they are !!

They turned out much better than I expected and I am just thrilled with them. I used SCAL to cut them out on my Cricut. I got the files from Dragonhome's Place and since I am so new to SCAL I used a wonderful tutorial for Inkscape from Brandilynn's Blog to take apart the hat so I could piece it. I used a ton of stickles and glitter on these and then I popped everything off the Twinchie except the red fireworks. Next month's swap is summertime tags and I hope I do half as well as I did with these. It feels sooo good to be crafting a little bit again!!

Ahhh, the craft room. I sat tonight and wrote out a plan of action. That craft room has really overwhelmed me lately because there is just so much to do. My main problem with it has been just where to start and I finally figured out I can't really do anything until I figure out just where I want things to be. Right now most of what is on my shelves is empty storage that I will use, but it is just plain taking up space. Everything else is just kind of sitting up there where I set it. I decided I need a desk area ( my desk, office supplies etc...) a wet area ( paint, stamping, markers etc...) a BIG scrap area, a needlearts area ( Crochet, cross stitch, pc ) and a miscellaneous crafts area ( Wire, Quilling, foamy things for the GK's etc..). I have decided now where they will all be so now I really need to basically start over and get the stuff on the shelves more organized and in it's home. I am getting a desk/dresser type thing from a friend and after I get it painted I am going to use it for my wet area. My paint racks will fit on it with plenty of room left for other supplies and I will still be able to work. It's cool because it is like a desk on one side and a dresser on the other so it will have plenty of storage. I am going to put it on the green wall and move the jetmax cubes and possibly my paper drawers to the yellow wall. That wall will all be my scrap storage area. The credenza that is there now is going out the door. Half the purple wall will be Misc crafts and the other half on the other side of the outside door will be needlearts. The peach wall is desk and office supplies. Plus I will have 2-3 craft tables in the middle to scrap/work at too. My E is staying on them. I am really loving my Ott lights too. I got 2 of them when J's had them on sale for 75% off and they are wonderful!! My eyes haven't really bothered me working on the twinchies and I think it's because of them. OK, I am writing a novel here...lol. I am just excited because I have a plan of action. Working on the twinchies really made me want to get this room together more, so I just needed to sit and take a good hard look at it. Now, just to get it done!! I sat and sorted all my wood stampers tonight and they are all organized and on the right shelf so I have begun!! Wish me luck cuz I am going to need it. I promise when I get it cleaned up a little more I will post more pics!

I'm Back!!

I am back!! I have had a whirlwind couple of months and things are finally settling down around here again so I wanted to give you all an update on where I am at. The craft room had to take a back burner for a bit I'm sorry to say. My oldest grandson graduated from high school last month and my WHOLE FAMILY came from Iowa for it. I was so happy to see them all and so glad they got to see Devin graduate. He is going into the Air Force Academy Prep school next month so it may be a while before they get to see him again. Of course, all of them coming meant lots of preparation since my Mom stayed here with me. We had to haul all the craft stuff out of the 2 bedrooms and off of the patio and put it back in the craft room. What it amounts to is I have bins stacked all over and a mess out there...again...lol. I just closed the door to my other spare bedroom while they were here so it is still the same. There was no way I was going to tackle that room yet. Anyways, I have been finally getting back into the craft room and working again. I did manage to get all the shelves painted and up and we also moved the desk out of the living room in there before they came. I decided to leave the fridge and freezer in the front of the garage and put my desk there instead. I finally have the desk mostly put back together and all my printers etc... hooked back up. I have the punch holder up and about half the punches back in it and I am seeing the tops of 2 out of 3 of my tables!! Yayyyy!! Today I am going to finish the punches and start cleaning off the shelves right inside the door that I put a bunch of junk on to get it out of the way. Then I can start digging into the bins that are everywhere. Most of them are full of the stuff that needs to go on the shelves I need to clean off...lol. I am also going to get my Cricut Expression set up and get some Twinchies (2" Squares) cut for a small swap I am in, plus my friend is coming over later this week to cut some letters for a garage sale sign. Gotta have a little fun in the middle of the work ya know? I don't know, that room wears me out just thinking about it, and I haven't even made a dent in all my craft stuff yet. As slow as I move it will be next summer before it's all done I bet. I still have the front half of the garage full of all kinds of junk, including tons of craft and office supplies. Tackling that will be the next project because I want to use it for storage for my big bins, which are all in my back bedroom. The back bedroom will be the last project. THAT is where the majority if my craft supplies are and it is going to be a big job sorting through it all. When I finally get to that room I know I am on the last leg of this journey of mine with this craft room. Who's idea was it to remodel this room anyways???...lol. I am sure I will change my mind a million times about how I want things before it is all said and done, but I think all this work will be worth it all in the end. It will be so nice to be able to go out there and just sit and scrap, stamp, paint, play with the Cricut, whatever I want to do. And to actually be able to find things will be WONDERFUL!! So, I guess I better get to work!! You all have a good day!!

Painting Shelves

I tell you what. The best laid plans...lol. My daughters SO got sick so my 2 oldest grandsons came over and with a little help from my neighbor to get them started, got all the brackets for the shelves up. OK, so now what? My dear sweet neighbor came to my rescue once again and came over last Friday and started cutting the shelves for me. The weather got cold and windy so he couldn't finish, but he got enough done that I could actually start painting them. He came over again on Tuesday and finished cutting the rest. I am soooo happy. I have been painting like crazy for days now and what I have done so far looks GREAT!! It is taking me forever to paint them because I am doing them inside, actually in the craft room, and have to wait for each coat on each side to dry before I can do another. Nothing like waiting for paint to dry...lol. BUT, they are getting done, slow but sure. I am hoping to finish the last four today or tomorrow morning. Of course my craft room is a total disaster area right now. There are tools and paint stuff everywhere. I really need to spend some time in the rest of my house since I have practically lived out there the last few days, but it shouldn't take long to knock them out and then I can get it cleaned up. What to do, what to do...lol. I am going to wait and post pictures after I finish and get the tools & paint stuff put away. Then comes the fun part. Going through all my stuff, bin by bin, cleaning, sorting, organizing and figuring out just where the heck I am going to put it all..lol. Well, I have plenty of shelves, that's for sure!! OK, I give, here is a teaser picture I took the other day after I had a few shelves done. What do you think? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Moving In The Furnitture

I just wanted to do a quick post and show you all the latest progress on the craft room. Saturday my daughter came over and we got the furniture in place. Her SO (significant other) is coming over one day this week with a couple of the boys and is going to put my shelves up. Finally!! My neighbor is coming over soon and is going to hook up a TV in there for me too. I didn't take any pictures of the peach wall because right now it just has ladders and paint stuff sitting there. Eventually that wall is going to have my littler fridge and freezer on it with shelves above them for my small kitchen appliances, cookbooks etc, so it's really not part of the actual crafty space...lol. I don't have a lot of cabinet space in my kitchen so I needed the storage. For right now I am going to use the space to put boxes and bins to go through as I bring them in. I am hoping we can get the shelves painted this weekend and then I can really get to work putting things away.

This is a view from the kitchen door into the room. I even have space for a couple of friends!! The TV is going on the left end of the credenza that is on the yellow wall. I haven't decided where to put Big Mama, my Cuttlebug, my Bind It All and my 2 printers and camera dock yet. We'll see once the shelves are up. Please excuse the mess.


This is just my big file cabinet and my loose paper and cardstock drawers. They are just the 12x12 drawers you can get at Walmart. I have 12 sets of them here with room to expand. I think I am going to go ahead and pick up 3 more this week "just in case" they quit selling them or something. Plus I am not sure this is all my paper yet so I "might" need them...lol. The big file cabinet will have all the 8.5x11 paper that was in the smaller file cabinet, plus i have files of crochet patterns etc to go in it too. Plus whatever else I decide to stuff in it. Hmmm, maybe those DCWV stacks will fit...hmmm. LOL, I am still undecided about a lot of things and will probably change things around a million times before the room is all done.


This last one is just a closeup of my Jet Max Cubes. I have my DCWV paper stacks in them and they will be full of all my "junk" when I get putting things away. Nothing is organized yet. That was all just stuffed in them in my bedroom and my grandson just carried them all into the craft room full. I have to get the drawer handle back on that one drawer too. I forgot about it until I just looked at this picture...lol


OK, now I am off to find my surge protectors and some cable cord for the TV hookup. I also am in a stamped images swap with some girls on the Cricut Message Board so I am going to try to get them done today and mailed this week. You all have a good day and leave a comment and let me know what you think!! Hugs, Pam

THE CRAFT ROOM IS PAINTED!!

WOOHOO!! My Daughter and 2 oldest Grandson's came over Saturday and finished painting the craft room. I was really on the fence about all the colors but have decided I LOVE IT!! It kind of looks like the inside of an easter egg I think...lol. The colors are actually much lighter than in the pictures even. I love it when the sun is shining in the window!! It is so bright and cheery and is going to be such a fun room to do my crafts in when it's all completed. I am soooo excited!! My daughter said it is the coolest room she has been in...lol. And she is the one who suggested this and helped me pick out all the colors. I love the blue ceiling and the lavendar wall the best. I am so glad now that my little granddaughter insisted I have purple. And of course I took pictures to show you all. We hadn't even cleaned anything up yet...lol. Remember, the shelves still have to go up everywhere so it will break up a lot of the color. The shelves and hardware are going to all be white to match the trim. My Daughter wants to paint clouds on the ceiling but I think it would make it look too much like a nursery. So let me know what you think!! Do you like the colors? Do you hate them? Please leave me a comment!! Hugs, Pam

1


2


3


4


5

6

Don't forget to let me know what you think!!

Craft Room Update

There has been lots going on the last 2 weeks!! The white primer coat of paint has been sprayed in the craft room!! Woo Hooo!! We are still going to have to brush a coat on the trim I think. But FINALLY the painting has begun!! I haven't really been able to go out there yet because he just sprayed the 2nd coat Tuesday but my daughter stopped by and that was her verdict. I will take some pictures when we start putting on the colors. I can't wait!! I want to get it set up sooo bad so I can start crafting!!

I have been a shopping fool this past week. I got my tax return back last Friday and it's been spend, spend, spend since. I got 3 more jet max cubes from Michaels which gives me a total of 15 now. I just love those things!! I also got a bunch of their little $1 bin stampers and ribbon. Walmart loves me this week too. I got a bunch of stuff I have been putting off, plus I got 2 more of the Sterlite 12 x 12 drawers for my paper. Now I have decided I need 2 more and hopefully that should do it. I also bought a blue Bind It All from an online friend. It should be here soon and I am so anxious to try it. One of my first projects I think will be to make my Mom a book with pics of all 5 of her grandkids and all 5 of her great grandkids that she can show off. What else did I buy? I placed 2 seperate orders from Joann's. I think I got 7 new DCWV paper stacks all together, not all the new ones but all are new to me. I also ordered 2 Ott Lights for my craft tables, some Disney Princess paper and some cute mini stamps. Other places, I ordered some house mouse stamps, 2 12 x 24 mats for my Cricut Expression plus the Wild Card cartridge, and some O wires and covers etc... for the BIA. Peachy Keen Stamps is having a sale Saturday so I am going to order the Animal Kingdom Faces and the Doodlecharms Winter Faces then. I can't draw to save my life so I NEED these stamps..lol. I am on the fence about an ATG gun too. I have TONS of adhesive already so it's up in the air. I have to curb my spending after that because I still want to get a new computer. I haven't decided if I want another laptop or a desktop to put in the craft room. I am keeping this laptop too so I will have portability no matter what. Decisions, Decisions...lol.

OH, I ordered A Scrap Rack!! And it should be delivered today!! I am watching for the UPS man to come. I just ordered the base unit with 7 spinders to start with to see how I like it. Remember all those green PSB Binders on my bookcase? I am hoping to empty all of them onto a scrap rack eventually. It is kind of pricey but I need to get all that out where I can see it and then I will use it more I think (I hope). I also think the dividers and pages I have in the PSB will fit the Scrap Rack so it will just be a matter of transferring everything. What I like about the scrap rack is that it is expandable and you can expand it a little or a lot at a time. I just ordered it Saturday and it is due for delivery today so their shipping is fast too. I will definately let you know how I like it. Well, one thing is for sure, if I ever get this craft room done I will have plenty to keep me busy. I have been playing some in Design Studio and actually pulled out the Expression and made a few cuts from it so I know it works...lol. I also downloaded Inkscape and the trial version of SCAL. I LOVE SCAL!! I have almost 20,000 fonts and it was WONDERFUL to be able to use any one I wanted. I am going to get the full version as soon as I find a little time. Now Inkscape is another story. I used Paint Shop Pro X when I had a signature tag group over on Yahoo, and Inkscape looks pretty similar, but I was not very good at vector graphics even after taking some online classes. I think it is just overwhelming me a bit and I need to take some time to sit and play in it and figure it out. I will also look for some tutorials for it. Doing helps me a lot more than reading about it. Wish me luck!!

On the home front, my oldest grandson is wrestling in the State Wrestling Tournament up in Denver this weekend. He took 1st in his weight class last weekend at Regionals and my sophmore took 5th, just missing states by 1 place. My oldest grandson is ranked #1 in the state in his region and weight class right now. I am hoping like crazy he wins 1st place this year. He is pretty determined after his 6th place finish last year, and when that kid makes up his mind to do something it is pretty much done. I wish him all the luck in the world.

For those of you that don't know what a Scrap Rack is click HERE to check it out.

OK, I am going to go stalk the UPS man and the mailman both to see where some of my stuff is...lol. You all have a good day and I will update again real soon!! Hugs, Pam

Craft Room Is Ready To Paint!!

My craft room is all ready to paint!! I am so excited. My Daughter and oldest Grandson came over Saturday and we got it all ready. Everything is moved out, except 2 heavy file cabinets and a credenza that would take 10 men and a boy to move, and it's all covered in plastic, the windows are covered in newspaper, and the blades are off the ceiling fan and the rest of it is covered too. I talked to my neighbor and he is hoping to spray it Wednesday. He is going to do the whole room white, which will be the primer coat for the walls, and the trim is going to stay white so that will save us a ton of work trimming. We still need to take the doorknobs off and I have to cover the doorway into the kitchen in plastic so the fumes and paint in the air don't get to me, ( I am on oxygen 24/7 ) but other than that it's all ready!! My 2 oldest Grandsons have Regional and then State wrestling tournaments the next 2 weekends so my daughter won't be able to get here, but she said she will try to come one day during the week and at least get the ceiling done. I know I won't be able to take the fumes while he is spraying but if I do ok while my daughter is painting, I am going to try to paint the walls on my own. We'll have to see though. It is getting closer though!! Did I say I am excited!!

It's hard to believe we went from this (view from the kitchen doorway);


To This (same view from kitchen doorway);

And this ( view back to the kitchen doorway);

Did I say I was excited!!...lol. ( Edited to add; I think I set the date on my camera wrong...lol. )

Cricut Expression Giveaway - Drawing Over

Danielle, over at Life, One Layout At A Time is giving away a Cricut Expression!! Hurry on over there and leave a comment. You can enter 5 times a day until February 6th at 9pm EST. Be sure to tell her PamInColorado from Big Mama's Craft Room sent you and we could both win a prize!! Her only requirement is that you be a resident of the US. Good Luck!!