Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Amanda and Lilly :)

Grill Card

So here's the grill file cut out, nothing fancy, but I wanted to make sure that if it didn't arrive in time for christmas that my dad would have something to open. Ordered a Grill cover from walmart, in his favorite team, MN Vikings.
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3 Year Blogaversary!

Is just around the corner! Holy smokes! My Official Blogaversary date is January 3rd, so stay tuned for a posting with some Blog Candy :)

Gas Grill

Yes! I still know how to make .cut files! lol! 'bout time I start doing something.

I need a Gas Grill for a card, and I couldn't find anything that I liked on the cartridges, so out come's good O'George and a bunch of random shapes to make one.

The file is for the E, but just change the mat size and it will work with the baby or create too.

DOWNLOAD GAS GRILL - Made with George

Now, off to get it cut out and make my card!

Mr Rebates

Chances are, you already shop at a good handful of the stores that are listed with this site. Like JoAnn's.. or HSN...or even Ebay! so why not get an extra "kick back" from your purchases? JoAnn's has a 5% rebate, and HSN has a 6% rebate... Ebay has a 5% rebate.. and many more! Plus, you can have the money put into a paypal account once you hit $10 in rebates.

On a side note, I did get the flowers ordered, Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I went with the Celebrations by Radko. I was googling coupons to see if I could find something more than 25%, and that's how I found MrRebates. I got an additional 16% through them :) They will be delivered on Thursday, so I'm now anxiously awaiting to hear how they turned out!
Now I'm off to get some more cards made... I completed all my "bulk" ones, and now have a handful of special ones to make.. going to try doing them as the "Tri Shutter cards", and will definitely post when they are done!

Bean Bag project

So Menards had these bean bags for the day after Thanksgiving. I won't lie, they are ugly. But, with some fabric and a sewing machine, they can turn out pretty cute. Its not perfect, but she is 7 and it will serve its purpose... And is much more inviting than the red. This took 3 yards of fabric, and I didn't have a pattern so I made it up as I went. The base was cut as a 50" diameter, and then 2 halves, cut slightly longer on the straight side so the 2 pieces would overlap. It is bigger than the bean bag, should have done a 40" diameter. But hey, it works right? And it can easily be taken off to wash.
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Etched Jars

Here are two gifts for my coworkers, Beth and Kathy. The both have a 4 legged family member so I thought I'd make them treat jars.
Dog images were found on the web, fonts are Arial black and Comic Sans. Paw prints were found online too. Jars from Hobby Lobby, and were only $2.50 each! Can't beat that!
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Vinyl on Scooter

Here's the scooter I got Lilly. Thought I'd decorate it a little, so I used vinyl and put her name and a butterfly on it. Sorry, can't remember font, but it was cut with SCAL. The butterfly is a SVG file
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14 days to Christmas!

Wow! Has the month flown by or what??? Just 14 more days till Christmas.. can't believe it's already here... I still have yet to finish my cards, gotta stop procrastinating! I think I'll get them done tonight so that I can mail them out.

Has anyone else still not mailed out their cards?!

Thanks for the Ideas!

Between here and a Yahoo group that I am in, I got plenty of ideas on what to get her.

Some mentioned to get her paper and a cartridge and let her make her own. The thing is, she lives with her dad, 3 hours away, so the time I see her is limited. Getting her a cricut of her own is out of the budget too right now, and I have mentioned this and the cuttlebug/cuddle kids to her and her father and well, he doesn't seem interested in the "upkeep" of it as he looks at it. And he tells me that like most 7 year olds, right now she doesn't really "take care" of her stuff, so he was afraid that if he wasn't around when she would be using it, that she might break it. (I don't see it, she's very careful with mine, but maybe cuz she knows its mine?) And I have asked her if she wanted her own, and she said "why? I can use yours when you come up" I think that if she had her own, maybe it won't be as "special" to her when I bring mine up and we create things, as it would be something that she could do whenever she wanted to at her dads.

So, if I did paper dolls in magnetic material, does this come in different colors? or would I have to color it in? What kinds of markers would be more permanent? (besides copic.. I have some BIC ones, perhaps they would work?)

Some other ideas that I got were Cookie mixes in jars, Nifty knitter, card kit, village for her to decorate, Word book (using her name),. Gift basket with travel sized items, Dress up clothes, etc.

I did find the other night while cleaning, a small heart-shaped locket in my jewelry box. It hold likes 8 pictures, so I will find some {family} pictures and give it to her also. I believe I got it many years ago (I wanna say I was in 10th grade? I think it was a confirmation gift...)

I'll be sure to post pictures as I get things together.. atleast I have a month to get things ready, and still not even sure yet if her dad will let her come to my parents house for christmas, or if she'll be at their place the weekend after..

Christmas Gifts for a 7 year old?

So, I've been racking my brain for something to get my 7 year old daughter for Christmas, without blowing my entire "Christmas bonus" ($178, that is an instore credit for Menards, we have a toy section for the holidays..)

She likes it when I bring my cricut up and we cut things out and make "pages" with it. She can run the cricut herself, and when I brought my G up last time, she was able to figure that out too and cut things. She likes picking out the colors, and the princess and wedding girl are the ones that she makes every time...

Would it look like I was "cheap" if I made her a bunch of paper dolls that she could assemble? Along with like Hello kitties, or Hannah montanas and other things? And then I'd put them in a special folder of some sort so she could mix and match them as she wanted.. Maybe use baseball card holders or something..

Anyone else have any other hand made items for a 7 year old? I'm also thinking of a tied fleece blanket, and perhaps a pillow to match.. I just feel horrible cause I've been able to go "all out" the last few years, but this year I won't be able to do anything "big" until her birthday (which I'm buying right away when I get taxes back, since her birthday is in May)

Please comment with any ideas :) Thanks!!

The attack of the Rudolphs..

Been busy this last weekend attempting to make my Christmas cards.. There's roughly 60 or so in the picture below.. and this is just the start of them, still have to put them on the actual card.

Stamp is Hampton Art PS0422 Rudolph

He was stamped in Colorbox Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roan and then the nose/mouth and eyes, antlers/feet were hand colored in red/black.

Mat is from Accent Essentials 3.6x2.4 for white and 3.88x2.6 for the patterned paper. (yes, I had to look it up!)

Hoping to have a finished product in the next few days!

Wow!! 1914 subscribers!!

Holy smokes!! Just checked out how many people subscribe to my blog via email updates, and I am very thankful for the 1914 people that are out there!!!
If I hit 2000 by the end of the year, I think some blog candy is in the works :). So... Please tell your friends, and have them sign up too :)

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A little productive..

And of course I still haven't got anything scrappy done yet. But I did get this shelf put up in the bathroom; couldn't take the sink clutter anymore. The shelf is actually a piece of backsplash for countertop. I bought an 8 foot piece for $1. Lol, "managers special", although I only needed 30 inches.. and another .69 x 2 for the angle brackets. Still figuring out where I could use the other 66 or so inches, I'm sure I need a mini shelf somewhere around here!
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Santa Ray

I was asked again by the store manager to make a few things for our christmas village at work. So I got together with the hardware manager and he wanted a santa Ray and Ray as a snowman. I did these last night, and I will put them up in the village tomorrow when I go to work.
Ray was cut with SCAL
Santa hat, bag and beard from PDDU
Snowman Ray scarf, nose, mouth from snowfriends (I think that's what its called, don't have in front of me right now).
Can't remember offhand where his hat came from.. Svg I think..
Thanks for looking!
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Trick or Tweet

Halloween is soon approaching.. and ya know what that means?! I get to see Andre in 6 days! Ok ok, it's also time for Trick or Treaters, which I will be missing in IA. So sad as a friend of mine is taking her two adorable twin girls out, and I'm gonna miss it :( But I did get pictures of them trying on their Lamb outfits (they will be 2 in November) and they are SO PRECIOUS!!!

So, since I'm missing it, I'm making them cards, and giving them their 'treats' early (which will probably be something along the lines of Animal Crackers) I also made one for Miss Lilly too, and I'll be getting hers in the mail probably on Tuesday.

I was inspired by Robyn (The Pink Stamper) during a post she did back in September. Here is a link to her post. She did a video with the Imagine using the Create a Critter Cartridge.

The Chickie was cut from Create a critter, the hat and cauldron are from PDDU. The hat was embellished with Stickles (Platinum) and the cauldron with Lime Green. It might be hard to tell, but the orange paper was embossed with Pumpkin Harvest. "Trick or Tweet" printed from my computer (Black Chancery for the Font) Hat was cut in Dark purple cardstock, which shows up a LOT better in person.

Thanks for looking! (and if you haven't already yet, check out Robyn's Blog! She's great!!)

Weekend at the Farm

Went up to MN this last weekend to visit Lilly, and our first stop was JoAnn's :)

This ghost ended up following us home, and now sits in Grandpa's yard...

We went to Nelson's Farm, a family owned farm about 20 minutes from my parents that has animals and games and stuff for kids to do. Here's just a few random pictures from the weekend!

Lucky In Love ♥

I have a friend that is getting married in 3 weeks in Vegas, so I wanted to create a vegas-type card. Thanks to Larkspur and Skipperkim on the Cricut board for the ideas of a Slot Machine and "Lucky in Love" (which is written on the inside)

Cut file for the slot machine can be found on a previous blog post.. I just changed out the 7's for hearts.. all done with George. SLOT MACHINE POST

Thanks for looking!

Halloween....

Is just around the corner!! And ya know what that means... Fun Halloween Display at the store!
So... on Monday, I was asked by the Hardware Manager to recut the letters that I did last year. Last year they used glue to hang them up, and well, they didn't survive the tear down :( So.. this year I got smart, and laminated them. He also requested a Ray that was about this *holding hands up in the air* tall. For those that don't know, I work for Menards, and our "Spokesman" so to speak is Ray, The Menards Guy. So... I grabbed some signstock from work that matched the Lemex SPOOKY TOWN lettering perfectly, and took it home, and with SCAL I was able to create 2 fun Rays, and the lettering.

Originally, this was suppose to go down one of the aisle above the Spooky Town Village, hanging from the shelves. However... when Nick (The Hardware Manager) saw the Rays that I made.. he said that they deserved to be in the MAIN AISLE cuz they were "so damn good"

This picture (well.. not the exact one I guess.. the one I used had feet) is what my "template" was last year when I made Ray for Christmas... HERE IS a link to my Original RAY and CHRISMTAS RAY (Which, Christmas Ray will be redone for the Christmas display this year.. bigger and made in to Santa Ray... too bad he never had a girlfriend lol for Mrs Claus :)

The Font is POST CRYPT , which can be found FREE on many different font sites. Do you see Ray?? The letters were cut at 10 1/3 x 4 1/2. Then Laminated. I then punched holes into them, and used Ornament hooks through the holes. The Hardware Department used a Staple gun to attach to the Lattice fence piece (which is covered by the black fabric) and then the ornament hooks were bent around the staples The overall aisle is about 7-8 feet wide.

Here is "Franken-Ray" up close....

I did use PPDU for the hair, otherwise, everything else was cut from SCAL

And here is "Dra -Ray -cula"

Hair and Cape from PPDU, you can't tell at all but the cape has a seam right through the middle. Since his body covers it, it looks like ONE piece :) I believe the bottom of the cape from left to right measure like 15 inches, and height of cape is 11 inches (I just have 12x12 mats for my cricut) Hard to see in the picture, but on his shirt where the collar is turned, I used brads to hold it back.

So, there is the Mason City Menards' Main Aisle Halloween Display for the year! I hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I had making the pieces for it! Tomorrow's the "BIG" day.. ya see, the Main Store Manager had the day off today... so.. I'm hoping that he will like this display as much as the rest of the Team! And then again Tuesday... when peeps from the General Office make their weekly visit..

(I think RAY would approve!)

Back To School Blog Hop!

Thanks for taking the time to stop at my blog! I'm so excited, as this is my first time in having a blog on a hop. I'll try not to ramble too much, as there are many stops to go. I'd like to take a moment to thank Sarah over at Pink Cricut, for inviting me to participate! Thanks so much, and I'm looking forward to doing this again! You should have arrived here from her blog, if not, please make sure to check it out!

This blog hop runs from Saturday 8am until Sunday Night at 11:30pm

Be sure to leave a comment, letting me know that you were here (and I LOVE comments!) Plus, as the end of this hop, everyone that comments will be entered to win the New Cricut Cartridge, HAPPY HAUNTINGS, from Memory Miser, who is the Sponsor of this Hop! And Tangee over at Kricut Krazy will be giving away Cindy Loo, donated by ScrappySales.

This has been a crazy week as between work and trying to work on my project, it's been a wonder I've gotten much sleep. This was a challenge for me, as I don't really have any back to school type pictures, and with Lilly being with her father, well, he's not always good about remembering to bring the camera places. However, I know that they have school pictures and "First day of School" and such, and she likes to color and draw, so she can always do that to fill this book up.

For this hop, I did a mini book. The overall size is 10x10. I wanted to do something unique that I haven't done before, so me and my Bind it All got to know eachother a little bit, as we did a few runs cause I've never done more than one set of holes before. After checking out some online tutorials on how to line up the punches, I still think I did it wrong :) But it opens, closes and looks alright, so that's all I'm worried about.

Cartridges Used::
Locker Talk
Designer's Calendar
Keystone
Speaking of Fall
Paper Doll Dress Up

Most of the patterened paper is by The Paper Studio, and the solid cardstock was just random pieces in my stash.

I apologize for the bad photos, couldn't find my camera so used my phone, and the lighting in my place is horrible!

The book is made with Matboard, and I cut the windows out on my cricut. All lettering was done with Cricut Keystone. The bus and the 2nd Grade were cut from Locker Talk. Faces from Paper Doll Dress Up.

Here is the front of the book

Close up of the front.. Stamps used are Peachy Keen
Open both sides.. Apple cut from Locker Talk

Turn the left page open, all photo mats accomedate standard photos.. the larger one is for her yearbook picture. Apple on Left page cut from Locker Talk

Turn the right page.. Here she can write about her first day.. Lettering from Keystone

Turn the left page.. and a spot to write about what she likes about school. Lettering from Keystone

Turn the right page.. The book fully open. Lettering on Left is from Keystone. Calendar and September cut from Designers Calendar. Apple and Scissors from Locker Talk, Leaves from Speaking of Fall.

Close up of the calendar. While doing this I realized I don't have a small number stamp set, so I handwrote the dates in

Thanks so much for looking! Your next stop on the hop is Cheryl at Nana's Creative Corner

Blogs on the hop:: - Please be sure to stop at each one!
Sarah at Pink Cricut
YOU ARE HERE---->Amanda at Cricut Creations
Cheryl at Nana's Creative Corner

Joy at Joy's Life
Trish at 1/3 Chicklet
Kerry at Momma K Crafts
Tangee at Kricut Krazy
Momo at Made by Momo
Stephanie at Always Crafting
Rosy at Sweet Delights Ashley at Her Creative Path

**just a quick note.. my comments are moderated, so if it doesn't show up right away it's cause I have to click the button for it to be published, so no need to comment more than once.. I'm home all day and approving as they come in, Thanks!!**

Blog Hop!!

I'm so excited!! This Saturday, please join me on a BLOG HOP featuring the theme "Back to School" I am working on a few things to show for this, and I'm sure the other bloggers would also love for you to stop by their blogs too! Hope to see ya then!!!

Blog Candy Winners!

Thank you all for commenting, and visiting my blog! I wish that I had enough blog candy to go around to everyone :)

Here are the winners! Please contact Amanda at amkscrap @ gmail.com (without the spaces) with your address information. The stamps will come straight from MMC, and the Cart I will get shipped out this week!

For the Grandiflora Roses Set 2 - Marjorie From TX

For the Grandiflora Roses Set 1 - KimberleyG

and for the Graphically Speaking Cartridge - Annette Simpson

Thank You All!

Blog Candy!!

As promised, when I hit 200,000 hits on my blog, I'd post some BLOG CANDY. Well, that number has been surpassed (quite a while ago too!) and so here I am, handin' out the CANDY!

Candy is brought to you by Memory Making Crafts which recently got a new look to to the online store! Go check it out, it looks wonderful!

This is a 3 part candy, meaning there are THREE giveaways!! one is to celebrate not only the 200,000 hits; but also the "new" blog look, and 2 1/2 years of Blog Life!

Part One:: To enter, all you have to do is COMMENT to this post! It's as simple as that! Please please leave a way for me to get a hold of you, many times I can't reach people as they don't have Google accounts or there's no email addy. To prevent spam, you can leave a space between your address and the @ symbol. Yourname @ yourhost.com
A winner will randomly be choosen by Random.org
The winner will recieve... Grandiflora Roses 2 by Heartfelt Creations; a precut, premounted on EZ Foam stamp set!

Part 2 is to Celebrate Memory Making Crafts new Online store look. To Enter, just add Memory Making Crafts New Blinkie to your blog, and comment on here that you did, with a link to your blog. You can also post the link on Facebook Winner for that will also be randomly choosen, and they will recieve Grandiflora Roses 1 by Heartfelt Creations; a precut, premounted on EZ Foam stamp set!

Part 3 - "Like" MMC on Facebook! All Fans of MMC on Facebook will be entered to recieve Graphically Speaking

Blog Candy will close at the end of the month! This post is will stay on the top until then!

Simple Cards..

I know that this isn't anything fancy, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things so I thought I'd start simple.

Paper is from Flowersoft, and the embelishments are just randoms that were in my stash.

Heartfelt Stamps at Memory Making Crafts!

Just a heads up.. Cindy has loaded the Heartfelt stamps available for Pre Order on her site. And there's a coupon code for the weekend - weekend5 will take 5% off your order, plus there's free shipping on orders over $75. Just click the link below :)

Heartfelt Stamps at Memory Making Crafts

Batman Bean Board

Here's the Bean Bag Boards that a friend of mine made for his kids.
Files for the Batman Logo are below, Available in SVG for Sure Cuts A Lot
DOWNLOAD BATMAN LOGO SVG
DOWNLOAD BATMAN LOGO2 SVG

Fire Fighter Logo

A friend of mine wanted one of these cut out for some bean bag boards for his BIL, and I figured that the file would be useful for someone else too!

Available in SVG Format for Sure Cuts A Lot software!

DOWNLOAD FIRE FIGHTER LOGO SVG