Spring is popping out in my yard

Yesterday was a grey and rainy day here in Aiken but even the dark sky could not suppress the beauty that is beginning to emerge in my back yard.  Our Tulip Magnolia tree is covered with amazingly beautiful bloom and is focal point of our yard.

This little tree was planted two and a half years ago. In that time it has doubled in size and has become a true spring time gem.  In the summer the tree is covered with lush green leaves, and will someday be a wonderful shade tree.  But the spring is is truly a wonder.  I love the bold pink blooms.

I think my camera did a great job on the close ups.  Did you notice the rain drops on the petals? 

I will be back with photos soon with a few photos of my redecorating efforts.  Don't you love Spring changes???

Spooky Halloween Decor

I had a wonderful surprise today: I received a surprise UPS delivery from Custom Crops. It contained two spray cans of Crafter's Companion, a new product for cleaning and resurfacing your cricut mats. Also in the box was the new cartridge, Winter Woodlands. Sweet!!

I wasn't feeling 100% today; my allergies in over-drive with sneezing, sniffling, coughing and general snorting (well not really) pretty much confined me to the house. What a perfect day to play with a new cartridge.

Maria, a member of the Custom Crops design team, made THE CUTEST 3D Halloween house using Winter Woodlands. Sadly she did not use design studio so there was no cut file. I thought I would have a go at my own 3D Haunted House.

I used Bldg 5 on the cartridge, and set the cutting size to 10 inches for all parts of the house. Like Maria, I used Paper Doll Dress Up for my haunting pieces: Ghosts, spider webs, mummies, etc.

I mounted my house, tree, tombstones, and assorted confetti trim on a piece of 12 x 12 hunter green cardstock and placed it the Haunted 3D scene in a Southern Living at Home tray. The tray will make it easy to relocate the house should need arise, but also it looks cut on my coffee table.

By the way, I have not stated how awesome the Winter Woodlands seems to be. I cannot wait to spend more time playing!!

*Patriotic Decor*Blog Hop*Blog Candy*

Hello happy bloggers! This week we have it all - Patriotic Decor, Blog Hop, and Blog Candy... Everything but fireworks!!!

If you are following the Bitten by the Bug blog hop you probably arrived here from the amazing Laura's blog (Isn't she fabulous?). The challenge cut at Bitten by the Bug this week is the jumbled word FREEDOM from the Graphically Speaking cartridge. I made this cute door hanger as an added patriotic decoration.



I cut FREEDOM in navy blue card stock, as well as a selection of stars. I used the Going Places cartridge highway sign in red with added cut outs, and also the shadow of the highway sign in white card stock. After assembling the freedom shield, I added one inch ribbon and additional larger stars.


One of the treats of the blog hop is blog candy!!! My blog candy is a set of coordinating paper, matching shaped cuts, and matching chipboard punchouts. Just leave a comment below and you will be registered for the random drawing. The winner will be selected on Thursday, July 2.


To continue on the blog hop, you will now be on your way to Donna's blog. Get ready to have your socks knocked off!!! I cannot believe I am sandwiched here between Laura and Donna.... Such talent on each side... Too bad it doesn't rub off on me!!!

And finally.... Happy July 4th week USA! For you international bloggers, July 4th is when the United States celebrates our liberation from English rule and the forming of our country. So wave your red, white and blue this week and celebrate with us!!

Finally!

Do you ever have ideas for projects and you just never get around to starting or finishing? I have had one of those for two years! We purchased a new house two years ago (two years ago next week actually) and while I did scrap the move process, I had never scrapped the new house pages. Until tonight... FINALLY!

It's actually a little funny, but I have put off scrapping the house exterior pages because I kept forgetting to get updated photos. The original photo only had "builder landscaping". I wanted photos that included the 16 foot palm we had installed, along with the flamingo willow tree and some of my knock out roses. I finally managed to get those photos taken last week. Coincidentally, I was also able to use my new Home Decor cartridge to cut some of the page elements (as well as Home Accents for HOME). And before you ask, I purchased the address plate two years ago... before design studio. The customized address plate came from Scrap Your Trip. I also creating pages showing the moving process and the paper and rub-ons for those pages also came from Scrap Your Trip.
My other project this evening was a monogrammed card. I wanted to try this cute circle cut card so I used it to create my monogrammed card. I foresee more of these in my future!!