The last day of 2009

I thought I could get this done yesterday, but I had some technical issues with my laptop- for some reason the card reader decided it didn't want to work right.

Today, I thought I would do something different! I was a inspired a little by necessity, but also by my sister, who got a Cricut Expression (lucky ducky!) for Christmas and has been crafting up a storm! I think I am to blame partially for creating this crafting monster because a couple months ago, she asked me to bring my Cricut to Mom's house so she could see how it worked. I have the personal-sized one, but it gave her an idea of how they work. I also have Sure Cuts A Lot and the Storybook cartridge, which I recommended, and she got those as well. Anyhow, she started off doing some cards, and I needed a Thank You card for my Grandma, so I decided to do a card sketch this time around!

For this card, I used papers from Die Cuts With a View & Marianne Richmond. I cut the shaped papers and the words out with my Storybook cartridge. The flowers I made by cutting out the flower shapes on the George cartridge in 2", 1 1/2" , and 1" sizes from each type of paper I was using. I inked each one on the edges with a coffee colored ink. For the flower on  the left, I glued down the big piece on the bottom and then curled the petals with a chop stick and glued each of them down with the smallest piece last. I did pretty much the same with the other flowers, but because the paper is only printed on one side, I actually rolled the petals inside out.

For my actual layout and sketch this week, I am still catching up on my fall pictures :)

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I also decided to do a round sketch this time. I love how it worked with these photos & papers.

I stamped the paper behind the larger photo with a swirl stamp and brown ink and used an edging ruler to tear it, then I inked it around the outside with the same color ink as well. The other papers as well as the journal spot are Little Yellow Bicycle (which is a company I seem to be buying more & more stuff from). The Alpha stickers are from WeRMemoryKeepers. The gold mesh is actually some Christmas ribbon I bought a couple years ago & just love how it adds to my layouts! I'll be sad when I run out because I haven't found any more like that since I bought it. At first, I had issues getting it to stick to my pages, but I've found that if I spray the back of it with Helmar Vellum Adhesive & let it sit for a few minutes, it sticks really well!

Today is the last day of 2009! I don't make resolutions because then I don't feel bad for not keeping them, but I have promised the kids that I will not buy any more scrappy stuff until after our vacation at the end of May (Disneyland !!!), with the exception of photos, adhesives & page protectors (which I buy at the dollar store usually, anyways). That means as the weeks go by, you will see me using up more of my stash, some of which I have been hoarding a good 5+ years now! This could get interesting!

Happy New Year!