Fun and Mental Changes

So yesterday's post included this Frankenstein from the Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge (I SOOOO love that cart!) except he was wearing a frown. You can check out the post HERE . Well, late last night I decided to play around with the 'hide contour' feature on my Gypsy and created.... Happy Frank! He is exactly the same as the Frankenstein featured in yesterday's post... well except that I didn't cut his legs off... hahahahaha! Anyway, he measures 6" x 3" and I'd like to find him a good home. Anyone interested in getting a little goodie in the mail from FitterTwit? If you are, leave a comment on this post with how you will care for him (i.e. what project you will be using him on.... cuz I'm just curious... LOL). Oh, and be sure to include an email address where you can be contacted. And for the heck of it... I'm gonna throw in Happy Skully too! ;) It will be nice to keep them together! *** I've never given away cuts before, so if there is ...

HALLOWEEN IS COMING!!! Yep... I'm full-on crazed with the upcoming holiday!!! I will be pulling out my decorations next week and to get myself pumped, I started browsing the Cricut.com message board for inspiration.... and it delivered! Now typically I like to create original work, but after looking at the AWESOME inspiration on the Cricut.com message board.... well, I couldn't help but scrap-jack these amazing creations! I absolutely ADORE the new Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge and while browsing through the Happy Hauntings cartridge thread, I came across this AMAZING card that used the "Friend. Good. - Frankenstein" stamp from Stampin Up (I believe that the set is called Smarty Pants and is discontinued... sorry!), but I happened to have it, WHAT LUCK! Off I went to create this amazing friendship card that I will probably send out long after Halloween is over and done! Thank you rhondah for this wonderful inspiration!!! And then THIS picture of gruesome perfect...

THEY GET EVEN BETTER!!!! Welp, since reading The Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko, I've now incorporated a green smoothie into my morning ritual. Strike that... the green smoothie IS my morning ritual! I SO look forward to that morning green bliss, well, after I get back from the gym that is. For anyone who wants to try, here is my favorite concoction. 2-3 heaping cups of spinach, kale or any other green leafy vegetable 1 cup of organic coconut water **(see the bottom of this post for more on THAT) 1 whole organic mango peeled, pitted and sliced 1 medium organic pineapple peeled, cored and sliced 1 large banana peeled 2 cups of ice cubes (optional... I like mine REALLY cold) Add all ingredients above in Vitamix or high speed blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until the mixture is blended REALLY well. You can also add ground raw flax seed for an added nutritional punch. If the smoothie is too thick add some spring water or more coconut water to thin it out. Thi...

A little while ago I had some heartbreak, as we sometimes go through in life, and reverted back to NAIL BITING.... DANG IT! I honestly thought I was past that horrible habit that turned my hands from pretty and feminine to tacky and gnarled! I grew up biting my nails only stopping when I had acrylic nails applied as an adult. Then, after the economy took a turn and I couldn't afford professional nail services, I had the gel nails removed (I switched from acrylic to gel because gel ROCKS) and began caring for my own nails. WHAT FUN!!! I grew my natural nails very easily and LOVED nail art.... I REALLY loves me the nail art. So what happened? Why can't I stop biting now?!? I did probably the hardest mani yesterday on the tiniest nubs I've seen in a LONG time!!! I know that darker colors on shorter nails looks awesome, but dark colors on nubs does not simply because the application is IMPOSSIBLE. Hopefully my Nail Aid Ultra Rapid Growth will actually stay on my nails to allow ...

Dear City of Chandler Officials, I watched your council meeting last night on the cable access channel and I have some things I want to say as one of your residents regarding the contract impass that you failed to rectify for the City of Chandler law enforcement personnel and what that says to me. I want to believe that I am safe. I want to believe that I live in a city that IS ahead of the rest. But I'm convinced that I don't and honestly believe that I should move out of this city as soon as I can. I drive down Arizona Avenue on, pretty much, a daily basis and see MILLIONS of my tax dollars "working" (see the NEW city offices being constructed above) while hearing last night that the city cannot afford to pay the city's emergency service personnel. I watched as the council berated a speaker for pointing out the selfishness and greed that is being shown in the improper use of funds during a struggling economy while you officials saw RAISES! The Chandler officers ...

A few years back I decided to make a change in my diet to incorporate raw fruit and veggies. As with many who attempt the raw food lifestyle (I do still eat meat, just much less and I try never to cook my veggies), I over-complicated things. But I've discovered two key tips that EASILY incorporate raw food into my diet... mix of flavors and marinate, marinate, marinate! 1.) Green smoothies ROCK! Mixing 60% tropical fruits and 40% dark green leafy vegetables together makes for an AWESOME drink!!! What an exotic and fancy way to get 5 servings of fruit and vegetables into your diet without a lot of work! Today I mixed 2 cups of spinach with 1 mango, 1 orange, 1 banana and 1/2 of a large pineapple with a splash of water into my Vitamix blender (you REALLY need a high speed blender for these smoothies) and got a wonderful drink that started out my morning quite nicely. Tomorrow I'm mixing coconut water, 1/2 cup coconut meat, 1 mango, 1/2 of a large pineapple with 1 - 1.5 cups of d...

Ok, its on... Halloween is "on the brain"!!! I just got my Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge and I ADORE THIS NEW CARTRIDGE!!!! I used the argyle background from the Wild Card cartridge in the most perfect Halloween colors and then added the tombstone from Happy Hauntings and finally added my own sentiment. I'm VERY happy with how this turned out! I'll be playing with the October 31st cartridge tomorrow.... OOOOOO! Is anyone else as super excited about Halloween as I am?

Ok.... Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko... High Five Victoria, High Five!!! I was SUPER excited to start this cleanse after reading the book and even convinced my husband to do this cleanse with me. I think he agreed to it since there isn't a "salt water flush" to do every morning and I can change up the smoothies every day. Not to mention that the smoothies are blended (more bulk) instead of juiced (more liquid), so I'm thinking that "full" feeling will help the cause. He agreed to 7 days with no meat, dairy or wheat, drinking only the green smoothies from this book for all his meals during the day. I told him that he can drink as much and as many smoothies as he wants. Today was the first day for both of us and I mixed a WONDERFUL concoction using fresh, organic, pineapple, peaches, dandelion greens and celery mixed with water. The pineapple and peaches made it REALLY sweet.... so I would have to say that the first day is a SUCCESS. Tomorrow...

Wow! Have I been having fun with the new Cricut Halloween Cartridges!!! THEY ARE AMAZING! While I ADORE the October 31st Seasonal cart and just about collapsed when my Happy Hauntings cart came in, this Pumpkin Carving Seasonal cart has turned out to be not only cute but functional as well for my upcoming Halloween decorating. At my house, Halloween EXCEEDS all other holiday decorating... yah, I'm kind of THAT MUCH of a freak for Halloween. This Pumpkin Carving cartridge looks like it was MADE for Halloween decorating (well, beyond pumpkin carving) with the square and circle images; check out the fun I had... The round images are the ones I worked with first. I cut them to use as orange ornaments using the ornament from the Christmas Cheer cartridge and then just glued the round Halloween images to that. These beauties will adorn a black tree lit with orange lights..... oooooo spooky! Didn't the kitty cat turn out PERFECT!?! The round images also work great for light covers t...

Well... this last Master Cleanse only lasted me 5 days.... UGH! I was so hoping to finish a 40 day cleanse this time! DANG IT!!!! Oh well, I guess I'll just switch some cleansing gears. I just read Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko and now I'm SUPER motivated to give this "experiment" a shot! A special shout out to my sister for recommending the book! What a great (and tasty, judging by the recipes) way to continue cleansing at a slower pace while still filling up on fruit and veggies! You just blend it all down to liquid form with a high speed blender and "viola" super green super food perfect for on-the-go! I gotta admit, a smoothie seems like the perfect vehicle to get the cleansing job done without "emptying" (you devout lemon heads KNOW what I'm talking about here) and time prepping. Plus... did I mention some of these recipes rock? Even though I'm drinking my meals, which I'm totally used to with The Master Cleanse, ...

Quick Post Today: There is something so special about what happens when you find an image that inspires! These two images from Stampotique are just those images. These two really speak to the macabre in me! The girl that tingles with delight at the very idea of the approaching Halloween season.... I do believe these cards have kicked that "tingle" into full blown excitement! I'm going to have to file these cards under "Spooky Cute". High five Stampotique!

I FREAKIN WON!!! I entered All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge (at the last minute I might add) last Tuesday and decided to check in on it this morning as it's going on 1 a.m. and I just can't sleep.... AGAIN! Not really expecting that I won yesterday, I kind of put the whole thing out of my mind taking care of yesterday's to-do list until this morning after hours of tossing and turning. "Huh, I wonder who won yesterday's contest?" Frustration due to no sleep.... GONE! I'm now on cloud 9 and couldn't sleep if I wanted to cuz I just found out that I WON!!! I WON, I WON, I WON!!! It's funny how, given a good reason such as excitement for not being able to sleep, makes not being able to sleep a little more fun.... don't you agree? Thanks again to the ladies at The Paper Vineyard.... you guys sort of made this happen! LOL!

Alright... by now you all know that I'm a Lemon Head! Every year I complete (or attempt to complete) The Master Cleanse also known as the Lemonade Diet. So when Pam over at TheBugBytes invited me to be a guest on her blog to feature a project from one of the new Cricut Cartridges... OF COURSE the lemon-themed images on the Just Because Cards cartridge JUMPED out at me (JBC is the featured cartridge of the month)!!! Now, for the record, I haven't officially completed 40 days yet. The longest I've survived The Master Cleanse was 25 days. I'm hoping that by completing this scrapbook page, I'll be inspired to finish the cleanse with ACTUAL before and after pics. Pray for me people... hahahahahhahaha! I completed this whole project on my Gypsy. You can get the free cut file HERE . I shared a couple of tips over at TheBugBytes, that I wanted to share with all my readers here. First, for all of you who may not know what a cleanse is, here is a GREAT link ... suffice it to ...

So... here is my entry for the All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge , Aqua/Chocolate/Kraft. This was a labor of love. I began working on it the other day while hanging out with the ladies at The Paper Vineyard , using it to show some Copic marker techniques. The hair changed at least two times that day... but then, that's the beauty of Copic markers! For this card I used Copic markers BG000, BG0000, BG01, C2, C5, E21, E35, E47, E49, E50, E51, R14, R22, R27, R59, W5, Y21, and the image used is Coffee Kiki La Rue from CC Designs. The same stamp featured HERE . Didn't I say this one was going to be getting a lot of use??? HAHAHAHAHAHA! But I think I like this one best of all.... "Best Friend Joe!" That's just funny!

Ok.... as promised (and a little pic heavy).... here is the tutorial for the fabric flowers! If you can sew a button, you can make these adorable flowers. What you will need is lightweight cotton fabric, a button, needle and thread, die cutter with circle die. If you have any questions, be sure to post them in the comments and I will be sure to check in and answer them. Here we go! Have fun with this one! Step One : Cut enough fabric to die cut 5 circles. I am using my Spellbinders 3" Nestability die with my Cuttlebug die cutter. Be sure to trim your fabric down so that it fits through your die cutter. The bigger the circles used, the bigger the flower. I cut three circles that needed to be trimmed with scissors until I discovered using a thin chipboard shim (pictured below) made the final two cuts CLEAN! Be sure that you try it without the shim first if you are using the same die cutting materials as I'm using. Because every Cuttlebug is different, yours might work WITHOUT th...

So, yesterday was the day I demonstrated Copic markers at The Paper Vineyard . They held a "Build A Book" event yesterday which featured multiple techniques and I got the pleasure of joining them. WHOA! Did I have a BLAST!!! Years ago when my favorite local scrapbook store (or lss) Recollections closed its doors, one of the lovely ladies who worked there opened her own scrapbook store and hired many of her fellow staffers from that Recollections store..... The Paper Vineyard was born. And now 4-5 years later, they are still going strong. I do frequent the store quite a bit, but I gotta say, it was WONDERFUL seeing everyone together again at yesterday's event! Jean, Tina, Vanessa, Sue, Adrianna.... THANK YOU for making yesterday SO much fun! And I certainly can't forget all of The Paper Vineyard's awesome customers! This is not coming from ANY sort of bias because I happen to be one of them.... The Paper Vineyard's customers are THE BEST! Ladies... I had so muc...

Well... all is well! It has been a tough two weeks, but as always, when you make it through, things get significantly brighter. As is the case today. I'm on the Master Cleanse again (it's that time again folks... I'm twice a year now) and I'm doing very well. I'm going to cleanse for 40 days this time, so I'm in it for the long haul. I'm reaching for homeostasis, and only TIME cleansing can give you that. I will then be following that up with a much slower cleanse with raw food so hopefully by the end of the year I will look 10 years younger! HA! Don't judge! God uses vanity to motivate too! LOL! Seriously though, my goal is ALWAYS divine health!!! So if things weren't already wonderful today with the cleanse, I was also just asked to be a Copic Marker demonstrator for a scrapping event this weekend!!! What an amazing honor! And this will work out perfectly with this cleanse because it will occupy my hands and my mind and keep me from eating!!! LOVE ...

Hi everyone!!! Just a little FYI that my friend Zoe over at Make It Crafty is having a DT call. Here's the dirt directly from her site: The time has come for Make it Crafty to call out to all the fabulous crafters like YOU to come play! I am looking for a special design team from all different backgrounds who want to help others with different techniques and ideas. I want to create a challenge site where crafters can come and learn or practice a technique and receive ‘real’ feedback on their submission. Make it Crafty will host challenges on a fortnightly basis consisting of two types of challenges. 1.A ‘monthly’ technique challenge where one designer from the design team will host the challenge based on a technique they feel they can help and offer feedback on. 2.The other challenge will be a fun challenge which may incorporate Make it Crafty digi stamps, 3D projects or products sold in store. As you know, Make it Crafty digi stamps are designed to be used with other stamps so you...

OOOOO... feelin the Feng Shui? I know I am while trying to REorganize all my stuff in the new place! You'd think expanding a craft space from a closet to an entire room would be easy... HAHAHAHAHAHA! But then again, I've always been a little horizontally challenged, so of course I went vertical.... AGAIN!!! A while back I posted an amazing storage solution for my Copic markers in a carrying case that allowed them to be visible AND mobile. Since that post I've talked to a couple of fellow Copic lovers like myself who were also looking for storage that allowed them to see the tips of their markers at a glance, but would still be mobile, organized and not take up precious work space. I'VE GOT IT!!! I found THE CUTEST little metal silverware/drink caddy (even monogrammed with my initial and just so happened to match my Cricut green... HELLLLOOOO!) with nifty carrying handles on the side. I used some large "S" hooks that I got from IKEA and hung it on my magnetic p...

I am the wife of a police officer. This is not an easy position in life but it's one that I am honored to have. In fact, it's what I believe I was made for. But at times like this, I can't help but reflect on my own sacrifices. Tomorrow we bury one of our finest who made the ultimate sacrifice. A brother in arms, my husband will be attending Officer Ledesma's funeral and he will come home.... broken. I have been through this before. It's at times like these that I'm reminded how difficult my position is. He may be the officer, but I'm the officer's wife, his support. The spouse of an officer doesn't really understand what compels the officer they are married to to go after what everyone else is running away from and to sacrifice their very lives to protect.... even the criminal, but we accept it. We accept that our bad days won't ever compare to THE BEST work day of an officer that, by the way, was far worse. We accept that a life and death decis...

Welp, I've been in the new place two weeks and I've JUST NOW got my craft space put back together.... I actually have a whole room this time... WOO HOO!!! Although I'm not going to lie, I LOVED my craft closet . In fact, I loved it so much, I set up all of my shelving on one wall exactly as it was set up in my closet previously. NICE! And just in the nick of time too! I was achin to "get my craft on". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So the gem pictured here is a CC Designs stamp called Coffee Kiki La Rue. I have loved this stamp since it was released and FINALLY got one and I can already tell that it will be getting used A LOT! I also bumped into a great deal at Big Lots and picked up a set of clear flourish stamps... the whole set was $2 and look how beautifully they turned out (top pic; click to enlarge). I also picked up the papers featured here at Big Lots too. The paper ended up being WAY thicker than I expected for the price. The paper is a 24-sheet pack of Pressed Petal...