Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Warm Holiday Wishes

I had made up two different card with the sketch for the last Peachy Keen Challenge. I could only submit one and in the end I decided to submit the snowman card you already saw. HERE is a link if you want to look at it again.


This card was super fun too. Paper piecing can be addicting and such a fun look. For this card I used the darling little Donna Rae Penguin from Peachy Keen Stamps and the perfect sentiment is from My Creative Time's Mixed Holiday Sentiments stamp set. Have a great one! Hugs- Glora

Items Used:

*My Creative Time - Mixed Holiday Sentiments
*Peachy Keen Stamps - Donna Rae Penguin
*Chalk
*Ink for inking
*Glossy Accents

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Black Friday 2011: My Shopping Report and a WINNER

First off I would like to announce the winner of Cathy's Birthday Blog Hop. The winner is #37 which is Simply Pam. Simply Pam said:

Love this card Glora! It is super fun. LOVE the papers you used, adds design and texture but not over much. :)

Pam


Congratulations Pam!

***************************************************************************


NOW HERE is my fun BLACK FRIDAY STORY...


I was crazy. I went shopping at a "Black Friday" sale at my local Roberts craft store.


For those of you outside the United States who are lucky enough not to have such traditions, Black Friday follows Thanksgiving Thursday, and it is supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year. It is the day that puts retailers "in the black."

On this day, many stores open at insanely early hours, and use "loss leaders" and special sale pricing to lure shoppers out of bed and into their cash register lines.

The Roberts advertisement showed, among their sale items, that Cricut cartridges would be $10 each. They even pictured some popular cartridges which appealed to me. Doors opened at a reasonable 6:00 am ("reasonable" when compared to most other stores).

So I set my alarm to wake me up early, and joined the line of customers outside their store. When I arrived about a half hour early, I was about the 25th in line, and many more joined me afterward.

At 6:00 am the doors opened, and it became very clear that everyone in the line wanted the same sale item. The line simply flowed into the store and followed to the Cricut cartridge display.

All the cartridges were against a wall in one location at the front of the store. The press of the crowd flowed that direction also. By the time I got my turn at the display, I found myself at the rack of cartridges, trapped by a mass of people behind me, other shoppers to each side of me, and a wall of cartridges in front of me.
The mass of humanity behind me was growing impatient, and slowly the back of the line was pushing faster and farther, threatening to smash or impale people like me who were trapped with nowhere to go.

I grabbed several cartridges, no time to think about what they were or what I really wanted (other than the fact that they were cartridges that I didn't currently own). All I could tell for certain was that the cartridges they pictured in the advertisement were not on the rack. Apparently they forgot to print "Selection may vary by store."

Being stuck and only able to reach a portion of the wall, I asked people to pass me this or that cartridge which was out of my reach. Sometimes they were helpful and handed it over, but other times they were only looking out for themselves. Unable to move, I asked people behind me what cartridges they would like and began handing them back. I secretly hoped to relieve some of the crowd behind me so I could make an escape, but instead it only angered people who thought I was dawdling.

There were certainly some cartridges I could see but not reach, and there was an entire rack of "SpongeBob" carts that nobody wanted. When I finally could make a break, I took my selections to the checkout. The press around the cartridges was just about right to let one person out at a time, and people were heading straight to the checkout and then leaving the store. Thus, the majority of the store was completely empty.

Now I'm not a business woman, but maybe next year they should think about spreading the sale merchandise throughout the store. If those cartridges would have been scattered about, people would have to explore the store, and maybe see other items that they wanted to buy. As it was, people were only buying cartridges and the store made no profit.

And maybe next year I'll think harder about whether the sale is worth losing sleep over.

Here is what I ended up with:

- Freshly Picked
- Fabulous Finds
- Give a Hoot
- Graphically Speaking
- Pagoda
- Printing 101
- Spring Holiday Cards
- Tie the Knot


In the comments, tell me what your best "Black Friday" find was!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

La bûche de Noël

For the current Let's Face it Friday Challenge over at the Peachy Keen Challenge blog we were asked to make a card or layout with you favorite holiday recipe. About 12 years ago I lived in France for 17 months. I spent two Christmases in France and my favorite Christmas treat was une buche de Noel. It is a yummy chocolate and cream filled creation rolled up and decorated to look like a log. It was often decorated with cute little decorations like holly and such. I am told that they are traditionally served with mushrooms made with meringue and that is why I have added cute little meringue colored mushrooms to my recipe layout.

 
Here is a little bit of a closeup:


The holly is actually a hidden recipe card. You just pull it up and the front has the ingredients on it and the back will have the directions on it. Here is a picture with the recipe card pulled out.


Have a terrific day! Hugs- Glora

Items Used:

Create a Critter Cricut cartridge
Peachy Keen Stamps - Princess Faces
DCWV - Christmas Stack
Tim Holtz Inks for inking
Sakura Gellyroll pen
Chalk

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Cathy's Big Birthday Bash Blog Hop

Hello crafting friends. Today we are celebrating a special 60th birthday for Cathy (from Crafting with Mimi)! If you came here from my awesome best crafting friend Pam's blog than you are in the right spot. If not make sure you start at Cathy's blog and wish her a happy birthday, then hop on through. She also has a small challenge you can participate in for extra chances at winning some awesome prizes.


This darling little mouse, hats and sentiment are all from the Karaoke Birthday Set by Peachy Keen Stamps. I just LOVE this cutie. The paper is all from DCWV both the Nana's Nursery boy and girl stacks.

BLOG CANDY:

I'm offering a Mickey Celebrates Cuttlebug embossing folder for my blog prize along with 10 yards each of red twine and black twine from The Twinery. Just leave a comment on this post and I will post the winner at the end of the hop. You have until the 27th to comment.

Your next stop is MY AMUSING LIFE. Click HERE to go to her blog.

And just in case you get lost along the way, here is the full blog hop.


Items Used:

*Peachy Keen Stamps - Karaoke Birthday Set
*DCWV: Nana's Nursery (boy and girl stack)
*Copic Markers for shading on hats everything else was paper pieced
*Tim Holtz Distress Ink for inking the edges of the mouse
*Chalk for accents on the mouse
*Sakura Gellyroll pens for accenting

Snowmany Hugs and MCT E2 Finalist

Today I have a card for you using the current Peachy Keen sketch over on their challenge blog. I love this sketch and actually made two different cards, but only one could be entered and I think this is my favorite of the two. It was hard to choose. I will probably post the other one sometime next week.


I just LOVE this darling Peachy Snowman, he is called Snow Much Love. I got him free with an order last year but he is also available for sale too. I paper pieced him with the same patterned paper that I used on the card. I also did a lot of inking around edges and such. And that perfect sentiment is from Emma's Mixed Holiday Sentiments stamp set!

ALSO, I just wanted to let you know that the person that is entered in the final drawing for the E2 from my blog is...

Zabrina said...
My favorite sport is football, so of course I'm going to love this!
This is my second HOP!
Zabrina
Congratulations, you will be entered in along with 18 other people into the grand prize drawing. Watch Emma's blog today to see if you are the happy new owner of the E2.

Thanks everyone and I will hopefully see you tomorrow for Cathy's birthday blog hop.

Items Used:

My Creative Time - Mixed Holiday Sentiments
Peachy Keen Stamps - Snow Much Love
Ink
Chalk
Patterned paper

Friday, November 18, 2011

My Creative Time's November Stamp release BLOG HOP!

Welcome to the My Creative Time November Stamp Release Blog Hop! If you came here from Cindy's amazing blog you are in the right spot, if not make sure to get the whole hop in by starting at Emma's blog.

Today I am showcasing the Touchdown stamp set. I have a couple of simple projects for you and then I will scoot you along you way on the hop. The first is a card...


I used a watermark ink pad and clear embossing powder for this card. The footballs and the quarterback are both from the Touchdown stamp set and the I {heart} football is from the Sports Sentiments stamp set. After heat embossing I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink and I was done.

Next I made a few lollipop holders in our favorite college football team colors...


These were made with white cardstock, Emma's stamps and dies and some Tim Holtz distress ink (even the blue scallops, I just inked them up so that they would match perfectly). Every stamp on here is from the Touchdown stamp set except for the #1 which is from the Sports Sentiments set. As far as dies go I used the new Lollipop Holder Die and the Scallop and Stitched Circle dies.

Here is a closer look at the Touchdown stamp set:



***HUGE GIVEAWAY ALERT***
For our giveaway today, we are  giving ONE LUCKY winner an E2! If you have always wanted an E2, here is your BIG chance to win one! OR if you have one already, just think if you did win, you would make someone SUPER HAPPY by giving it to them as a gift since Christmas is right around the corner!  All you have to do is leave a comment here along w/the rest of the design team's blogs AND also leave a way for me to contact you! Each designer will be picking a winner, then Emma will use random.org to pick the lucky winner out of those 19 names! So remember you  have "19" chances to win! All you have to do is leave a comment on ALL blogs in this hop! The deadline is Sunday night at midnight! EASY PEASY!!! GOOD LUCK!:)

Thanks for stopping by today, your next stop on the hop is the very talented Jeanne! Click HERE to see what awesome project she has in store for you!

If you get lost along the way here is the hop lineup:


Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps - Touchdown
My Creative Time stamps - Sports Sentiments
My Creative Time Dies - Scallop and Stitched Circle
My Creative Time Dies - Lollipop Holder Die
Versamark Ink
Stampendous Clear Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Distress Inks



Thursday, November 17, 2011

MCT November Stamp Release Sneak Peek #4

Hello friends and welcome to day 4 of My Creative Time's newest stamp and die release. Today I get to share a stamp set called Classmate Valentines and the Lollipop Holder Die. I think these sets today are my absolute favorite of this release. SO many possibilities. I made up 3 lollipop holders for you to see...


I did something different with each one, just to show you how versatile this set can be...


For this one, I used the Lollipop Holder Die along with the Scallop and Stitched Circle dies that it coordinates with perfectly. Isn't that little zebra super cute?!


For this one I only used Lollipop Holder Die along with just the stitched circle die. This look is kind of fun because you can still see the stitching on the scallops of the Lollipop Holder Die.


And for this last one I just stamped directly onto the Lollipop Holder Die. So if you don't have the Scallop and Stitched Circle Die set you can still use this die and stamp set for lots of stuff. The darling little ladybugs with heart spots are also on the Classmate Valentines  stamp set.

There were so many options for this stamp set and I wished I had found the time to make one with every sentiment and image because they are SO darling, but hopefully between everyone that made projects you will get to see a good variety. Make sure to stop by Emma's blog so you can see what she and the rest of the Design Team made.

Can I say I'm REALLY looking forward to Valentine's Day!!! But what I love is that this die works with all of Emma's round sentiments so I can be making some of these up for Christmas, birthday parties and such before Valentine's Day even gets here. SO many options... so little time...


 Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!
Listen up "My Creative Time" friends! We are giving all of you an opportunity to win the BEST PRIZES during Sneak peek week with a total of "6" winners to be announced during Friday's Stamp release! All you have to do is leave a comment HERE along w/the rest of the design teams blogs for a chance! There are some AWESOME prizes w/this release!

 1. SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Creative-Time/364568506334 that you did so! OR you can just tag me in your post!  and.............

 2. Just comment on ALL of the designers blogs EVERYDAY during Sneaky Peek week!  THAT's ALL you have to do to qualify for the BEST giveaways EVER!;)

All winners will "randomly" get chosen and Emma will announce all six winners on Friday, November 18th @ 12:01am PST in her video during the release of this AMAZING new stamp collection & maybe a new die!;) GOOD LUCK! Log onto to your facebook now & let start spreading word!;)

Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps - Classmate Valentines
My Creative Time Dies - Lollipop Holder Die
My Creative Time Dies - Scallop and Stitched Circle Die
Copic Markers
Sakura White Gellyroll Pen

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

MCT November Stamp Release Sneak Peek #3

Hi friends! I had to sneak in an extra sneak peek today for My Creative Time's newest release. Today the DT is sneaking Keepin' It Classy and Classy and Fabulous. Emma's talented brother,Mark Villar, drew up the images for the Keepin' It Classy set. He did an AWESOME job. The images are very chic! I also love the versatility of all of the extras on this set. There are plenty of purses, bags, a darling dog, leash, etc. Lots of options. The Classy and Fabulous set includes sentiments to go along with these images. Here is my simple but chic card...


I kept it pretty simple because I really wanted the awesome images and paper to do the talking. The paper is all from the La Creme paper pack by DCWV and it is gorgeous. The black is flocked and it looks and feels so cool in person. These stamps really do offer a lot of variety. I don't drink coffee or any drinks stronger than that, so even though there are coffee cups and drink glasses on this set I still feel like there are tons of variations and possibilities for me to work with. I definitely LOVE to shop and with 4 chic girls on this set to dress up with bags, purses and or dog(s) I am definitely going to have so much fun playing with it!!! I can't wait to see what the other DT members made with these sets!


Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!
Listen up "My Creative Time" friends! We are giving all of you an opportunity to win the BEST PRIZES during Sneak peek week with a total of "6" winners to be announced during Friday's Stamp release! All you have to do is leave a comment HERE along w/the rest of the design teams blogs for a chance! There are some AWESOME prizes w/this release!

 1. SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Creative-Time/364568506334 that you did so! OR you can just tag me in your post!  and.............

 2. Just comment on ALL of the designers blogs EVERYDAY during Sneaky Peek week!  THAT's ALL you have to do to qualify for the BEST giveaways EVER!;)

All winners will "randomly" get chosen and Emma will announce all six winners on Friday, November 18th @ 12:01am PST in her video during the release of this AMAZING new stamp collection & maybe a new die!;) GOOD LUCK! Log onto to your facebook now & let start spreading word!;)

Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps: Keepin' It Classy
My Creative Time stamps: Classy and Fabulous
DCWV - La Creme Stack
Tim Holtz Distress Ink


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

MCT November Stamp Release Sneak Peek #2

Hello My Creative Time friends!!! Well it is day 2 of sneak peeks and I'm sneaking the Slam Dunk stamp set. I made a small treat holder using a square box from Plantin' Schoolbook Cricut cartridge and two basketball jerseys off of the Sports Mania Cricut cartridge. The silhouette image on here is a stamp from the Slam Dunk stamp set as well as the sentiments. I made my first one in black and white...


I decided I would vary it up a bit and made a red and black one with a different sentiment from the Slam Dunk stamp set.


Well that's it for me. I can't wait to see what Emma and the rest of the DT came up with today. So if you haven't yet, hop on by.

Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!
Listen up "My Creative Time" friends! We are giving all of you an opportunity to win the BEST PRIZES during Sneak peek week with a total of "6" winners to be announced during Friday's Stamp release! All you have to do is leave a comment HERE along w/the rest of the design teams blogs for a chance! There are some AWESOME prizes w/this release!

 1. SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Creative-Time/364568506334 that you did so! OR you can just tag me in your post!  and.............

 2. Just comment on ALL of the designers blogs EVERYDAY during Sneaky Peek week!  THAT's ALL you have to do to qualify for the BEST giveaways EVER!;)

All winners will "randomly" get chosen and Emma will announce all six winners on Friday, November 18th @ 12:01am PST in her video during the release of this AMAZING new stamp collection & maybe a new die!;) GOOD LUCK! Log onto to your facebook now & let start spreading word!;)

Items Used:

Plantin' Schoolbook Cricut cartridge
Sports Mania Cricut cartridge
My Creative Time stamps - Slam Dunk

Monday, November 14, 2011

My Little Athlete - My Creative Time Sneak Peek Week

Well as I'm sure you know it is another sneak peek week over at My Creative Time. Well today wasn't my day to do a sneak but I couldn't resist sneaking a card in today with the new Sports Sentiments stamp set. I used this set to stamp a sentiment on the little outfit the boy is wearing.


I also made this card for the current Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge that goes through tonight. I used Peachy Keen Wide Eyed Kids face stamps for this little boy. I used the largest stamp in the assortment set and the little boy is from Baby Steps (cut at 5"). This card is also an easel card, so here it is opened up.


For the part that keeps the easel up I used Emma's Scallop and Stitched Oval Die set along with stamps from the All Around Birthday Time stamp set. All the patterned paper is by DCWV.

Now make sure to go to Emma's blog if you haven't already so that you can see all of the awesome projects and inspiration from her and the Design Team. Have a great day! Hugs- Glora

Items Used:

*Baby Steps Cricut cartridge
*My Creative Time stamps - Sports Sentiments
*My Creative Time stamps - All Around Birthday Time
*My Creative Time Dies - Scallop and Stitched Oval Die
*Peachy Keen Stamps - Wide Eyed Kids
*Patterned paper- DCWV
*Sakura Gellyroll Pens

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Sweet Pumpkin Trio

I know that Halloween has come and gone but I received this darling Pumpkin Trio, that I won, in the mail and I just had to use it for the Peachy Keen Let's Face it Friday Challenge!


I had to take the picture at a little bit of a weird angle because all of the papers are super shiny/sparkly and my camera only liked this angle - LOL. The darling pumpkins and their faces come in the Pumpkin Trio CottageCutz die set. And the sweet little Trick or Treat sentiment is from My Creative Time's Mixed Holiday Sentiments stamp set. The little oval that it is stamped on is Emma's Stitched Oval Die.

I will be back soon with something non-Halloween. Have a great one! Hugs- Glora

Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps - Mixed Holiday Sentiments
My Creative Time Dies - Stitched Oval
CottageCutz-Peachy Keen- Pumpkin Trio Die set
Patterned paper and shimmer paper - DCWV
Polka Dot Paper - BoBunny
Green and brown paper - Core'dinations
Sakura Gellyroll Pens

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

My Creative Time 3-D Wednesday

Hello My Creative Time friends. Today at My Creative Time we have made 3D projects to share with you. For my project I made a little favor box. 


These are really simple to make and just require a square piece of paper and something to score with. In the past I've only made these using 12x12 paper, however for this little one I used a 6x6 piece of paper. If you are interested in a video tutorial on the 12 x 12 size my friend Pam has a great one HERE.


I used Emma's All Around Birthday Time stamp set for the truffle and the round sentiment and I used her Scallop and Stitched Circle dies as well. The pretty ribbon is from the Celebrate It Sheer Creations ribbon line at Michaels. My friend Cassandra told me about it and I love it.

If you are interested in making these in different sizes I will give you some measurements below that might help you out (you can watch Pam's video HERE, if you don't already know how to make these, and then just adjust your paper size and score marks as stated below):

*The original 12x12 size is scored at 4" and 8" (when completed the base and each side panel is 4"x4")

*For a 6"x6" piece of paper score at 2" and 4" (when completed the base and each side panel is 2"x2")

*For a 7.5"x7.5" piece of paper score at 2.5" and 5" (when completed the base each side panel is 2.5"x 2.5")

*For a 9"x9" piece of paper score at 3" and 6" (when completed the base and each side panel is 3"x3")

And if you want to make a really tiny one...
take a 3"x3" piece of paper and score at 1" and 2" (when completed the base and each side panel is 1"x 1")


Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps - All Around Birthday Time
My Creative Time Dies - Scallop and Stitched Circle Die
Celebrations Ribbon
Twine from Trendy Twine
Patterned Paper from DCWV - Sweet Stack

Monday, November 7, 2011

Simple Thank You Card

Hello friends. Today, I have a really simple thank you card to share. I'm going to be helping some ladies at my church put these cards together next week. I will be helping make 25 of this card and 50 Christmas cards (which I will show you later this week). Getting all the pieces ready to go is going to be keeping me busy, but I think we will have a lot of fun too.


The shape and the rose are both from the Shall We Dance Cricut cartridge. The stamps are from Emma's So Grateful For You stamp set. The textured paper is Core'dinations. Thanks for stopping by today! Hugs- Glora

Items Used:

Shall We Dance Cricut cartridge
My Creative Time stamps - So Grateful For You
Core'dinations Cardstock
Sakura White Gellyroll Pen

Friday, November 4, 2011

Some Exciting News!!!

Hello sweet crafting friends! I'm SUPER excited to tell you that I am beyond THANKFUL and THRILLED to have been asked by Emma to continue on her My Creative Time Design Team for another term. I love working with Emma she is seriously the best crafty boss I know. She is AMAZING! I LOVE Emma's stamps and dies and I'm thrilled to continue creating with them as well. I also love the friendships that are made being on Emma's team and can't wait to get to know the new members of the team!!!

Emma wanted me to share a little bit about myself.


My name is Glora. I have an amazing and supportive husband and I am the mother of two darling girls. I LOVE staying home full time with my girls and working part time as an accountant. I'm an active member of my church and I play the piano during singing time for the children (3-12 years old). It is the BEST! A friend of mine teaches Zumba and I've been doing it 2-3 times a week for about 16 months. It is seriously addicting and I love it! I am a total and absolute Disney nut and can never get enough of that either!

In my spare time I like to be creating. I've paper crafted for as long as I can remember. I was introduced to the Cricut over 4 years ago and was hooked. A couple of years later I started to find crafting blogs to follow. This introduced me to the awesome world of Peachy Keen Stamps. I fell in LOVE with their stamps immediately. It was through Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge Blog that I found Emma at My Creative Time. I was always excited to learn from Emma and when she started up her Throwback Thursday Challenges I just HAD to join in the fun as often as possible! Last December Emma announced her new stamp line and I was thrilled. I instantly fell in love with her stamp style. They were the best around, in my opinion, so when she asked me to be on her design team I could not believe it!!! It was a dream come true! I'm SO thankful for Emma and for all of you as well. I'm so inspired by each of you and your creative ideas and talents. It is a blessing to call so many of you my friends!

Emma also asked me to create a project to share with you. I decided to use mostly stamps from the October release for this fun little gift bag.

  
And here are a couple of close ups:



Items Used:

My Creative Time stamps - All Around Accessories
My Creative Time stamps - All Around Birthday Time
My Creative Time stamps - Wow! So Many Candles
My Creative Time stamps - XL Label Borders
My Creative Time Dies - Scallop and Stitched Circle Die
My Creative Time Dies - XL Label Die
Gift Bag
Copics
Crystal Stickles
Glossy Accents
Sakura White Gellyroll pen
Twine from Trendy Twine

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Simply Crafts with Glora and Pam - Turkey Cut

Hello friend, it is the first Wednesday of the month again which means it is time for another Simply Crafts Challenge.

If you missed out on the big announcement last month, Pam (my crafting bestie) and I made our personal cut challenge into a challenge that you could join in too. Please come and join us at the Simply-Crafts Challenge Blog! We would love to have you play along!

This month I got to choose the cut and Pam sponsored the prize. The cut is the turkey from Create a Critter. I took a sneak peek at Pam's and it is TOTALLY cute and creative . I love what she did with it! You will have to hop on over to her blog HERE to get the details.

Here is mine:


I just LOVE this turkey cut and with that sentiment you have to know that she is sitting on an Action Wobble to make her wobble around! This is a shaped easel card, here is a little bit of a side view so you can see it better.


Hop on over to the challenge blog for more details and to see what a lucky random participant will win. Have a great one! Hugs- Glora


Here is a REALLY quick video of the turkey wobbling and my husband and daughter gobbling - LOL. Enjoy!



Items Used:

Create a Critter Cricut cartridge
My Creative Time stamps - Small Talk
My Creative Time Dies - Stitched Oval Die
Peachy Keen Stamps - Critter Faces
Action Wobble
Seeing Spots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
Crinkle Ribbon from The Prairie Bird Boutique
Sakura medium point Gellyroll Pens
Adhesive Pearls
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