CTMH Flower Market Cricut Cartridge and New Papers!

No, this is not a repeat of a recent post, I just wanted to highlight  the other products I used to create this card. Everything except the stamp is from Close To My Heart!  What did you say? You haven't seen this gorgeous paper yet? That's because it just became available today in our new Holiday Expressions Idea Book!

The paper is Swan Lake and you are going to love all the beautiful Fall creations you will be able to make with this paper pack. Be sure you take a look at my CTMH website where you will also find our gorgeous new Christmas papers and the new mini City Sidewalks Digital Cricut Cartridge!!

Speaking of Cricut cartridge, I cut the flowers and wreath on this card with the amazing Flower Market Cartridge from CTMH. You will love every one of the 700 images on this cart!

Inspired Stamps Scripture Card

Time for another visit to Inspired Stamps! For today's card I used the 2x2 Joshua 1:9 stamp. These Scripture stamps are the perfect size for a card. This scripture stamp is one I use often to encourage friends and family going through a difficult time. Be sure to stop by the Inspired Stamps blog to see what the rest of the team created.

Scrapbooking With Inspired Stamps

Inspired Stamps are not just for making cards or art journaling. I love to incorporate the adorable His Little Ones stamps into my scrapbook layouts, especially those of my grand daughter!

Today I used the HLO: Summer Girl stamp to embellish this LO of "K" having fun in the water. I heat embossed the stamp with black embossing powder to create "barrier lines" for watercolors. This allows me to quickly fill in the areas with water colors without them mixing.

Be sure to check out the other creations on the IS blog! 

I'm Back and with a New Idea Book!!

I don't know if anyone noticed but I have taken a bit of a summer break from blogging but today was a great day to return because Close To My Heart released the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book.  You can see and order all the amazing new goodies HERE.

This easel card was made using the fun and colorful new SANGRIA paper pack and the coordinating Assortment of resin flowers.  I cut the  leaves using the amazing new Artistrry Cricut cartridge from CTMH.

The scripture stamp is from :Inspired Stamps and the calendar pad is from SkyBluePink.

I also wanted to let you know about my new blog exclusively for my creations for my grand daughter. It's stuffmimimakes.blogspot.com

DIY Bathroom Remodel

I made framed piece, hubby made towel rack
hand towel holder from Hobby Lobby

The last several months have been crazy busy, crazy messy and crazy pricey at our home.  Basically, we've all been cray cray up in here! Our youngest son graduated the first weekend of June so we did what we had done for our other 2 sons and earlier this year, scheduled a big open house party to follow the ceremony.  We invited all our friends and family and planned on a full house.  We knew we would need to replace our kitchen floor before the event but we had plenty of time and money set aside.   Apparently, our 50 year old pipes heard the news of the party and decided they just couldn't take it anymore! The pipes gave up the ghost during a cold snap here earlier this year and we had to replace them. The first hint at our problem was when the bathroom linoleum began buckling (also original to the house). Before we could find the leak, an outdoor faucet froze and cracked and began spewing water into the yard! We called a plumber who crawled under the house (thank God for pier and beam) and discovered we needed to replace all of our cast iron pipes. Quoted cost-a little over $2000 just to replace the plumbing.  Trouble was, we also had to replace the floor and since we were doing that we might as well demolish the bathroom and remodel it completely.

tins from PickYourPlum.com

Tub replaced w/corner shower & toilet turned 

made by me

This had been our intention when we moved in 14 years ago but when I became disabled a year later our priorities and finances shifted.  A large accessible bathroom was built for me and the main bath was turned over to our 3 boys.  Everything in that room was original to the house-hideous linoleum, ugly metal tile walls, bath tub, huge linen closet, huge green tiled counter, etc. The door was too small for my wheelchair so I never entered and when guests came over I hung a "condemned" sign on the door-literally!

Back to the cost-we could NOT begin to afford to hire it out so we called for reinforcements-my husband's uncle in OK who had just retired as a plumber and my in-laws who were willing to help with the work and some of the cost so they could start staying with us when they visit instead of paying for a hotel because of the bathroom. We scheduled a work week during Spring Break so our 3 sons could also be available to work.  It was messy, hard and took a lot longer and a lot more money than planned but in the end, we have new plumbing and a beautiful new bathroom that I can now get in and we show off to guests instead of hanging the condemned sign.  In fact, it was the hit of the graduation party-lol! We "lost" a tub, big counter/cabinet unit and huge closet but we don't miss any of them.  The floor space is doubled and the entry is now accessible. We love it!

cart from IKEA instead of ginourmous closet

large mirror was original, we added frame
also removed counter which was from door to toilet

made by a friend

I can roll chair up to sink!

Graduation Rosettes w/Cricut Explore

My crafty friend Colleen at Col's Creative Corner posted an adorable centerpiece and tutorial using rosettes for NSD and then challenged others to post a rosette project for a chance at a prize. Thank you Colleen for doing that because it kicked my rear into gear to start on the decor for my youngest son's HS graduation party next month.

This is the result-4 fairly large rosettes to hang on the mantel..  They are shown hanging from my kitchen drawers so you can tell they aren't little.  I used my wonderful Cricut Explore to cut everything and it even scored the rosettes for me-what an amazing time saver.  I love rosettes but always hated scoring them so rarely made any.  The scoring stylus for the Explore made these easy peasy to do.  Can't wait to celebrate!