Lexi's Birthday

Despite Lexi having a rough birthday this year, she had a great party Saturday, December 11th.  The beginning of the month was very busy for us so, I didn't plan her birthday party for that time.  Her birthday was November 28th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I usually have her birthday the Saturday after Thanksgiving but, it was just sooo busy with shopping and then, Lexi became very sick.  She ran high fever the entire weekend and the beginning of the week.  On her birthday if anyone would tell her happy birthday, she would get upset.  I was finally able to give her a birthday party but, everyone else was getting sick.  I thought she wouldn't have anyone at her party.  I made her cake the night before.  I cut out Jessie the Cowgirl with the Cricut Cake to go on top of her cake.  When I started to put it on the cake, it fell completely apart!!!  I was soooo agravated.  I could only think, "What could possibly happen next?!"  I started all over and cut out Jessie and put it on the cake.  Despite all the problems, the cake turned out great and she had a great party. 
Here is her cake...

Here is Lexi blowing out the candles... (with the help of big sister, of course)

We played a game that my oldest daughter, Olivia, thought of creating.  It was pin the braid on Jessie.  We made some braids with yarn, put a piece of paper through the top part with the childs name on it, and used part of the table cloth for the Jessie.  The table cloth was longer than my table so, I was able to cut one section off and use it for this game.  The kids loved it. 

Here is one of the goodie bags.  I made it very simple.  I just cut out the Jessie like on the cake and attached it to some white lunch bags.

I also made a birthday banner but, I don't have that picture uploaded yet so, as soon as I get it uploaded, I will add it to this post. 

Lexi's favorite part.. opening the presents...

Thank you, everyone, who made Lexi's birthday a success.  She was very happy.  Can you tell that she likes Toy Story???  Thank you for looking. 

Early Christmas for me......

As most of you know, Walmart had the colored Cricut Expressions on sale for $185.  I had to work when they went on sale so, I decided I would just wait and get one later.  I had to work so, I sent my husband to pick up a few Christmas gifts that would probably be gone by the time I got off work.  He was able to get the things I was wanting.  I had also mentioned to him that the Cricut Lite cartridges were on sale.  He was able to get me 4 of them.  Then, he got me this.......

He couldn't wait til Christmas.  He brought it to me at work that night!!  I have been wanting the green Cricut for a while but, I did not want to buy it just because of the color.  Mine started making a weird noise a few months ago so, he bought me this one to replace it.  Mine was still working fine other than the noise and the white strip was starting to come off.  When I planned to cut something I had to make sure the white strip was down all the way or it would catch the mat.  Since it was still working I gave it to my friend from Louisianna.  She was here to go black friday shopping with me when I got off work at 6 am.  She is a single parent and did not have a Cricut.  She really needed one.  I was so happy to be able to give her my old one.  I just hope it holds up for a while.  Anyway, that was my early Christmas.  I am now working on some Christmas projects on my new green one. 

Halloween Pictures...

Yes, I know, it's like two weeks late.  I finally found the time to sit down and transfer the pictures from my camera to the computer.  So, here are the pictures of Olivia and Alexis dressed up.  Olivia is Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Alexis is (of course) Jessie, the cowgirl from Toy Story 3, Lola is a chicken, and LuLu is a squirrel.  I couldn't leave out the fur babies.....

Lola is sticking her tongue out at me.  She was not happy about wearing a costume.  I had to take hers off immediately after the pitures but Lulu wore hers for about 3 or 4 hours.  Here are a few pictures of the kids going to a few neighbors' houses....

Here is Alexis at her school Halloween party.  The second picture is her with the Skeleton donut men that I made for her class.  I got the idea from someone on the cricut message board.  I can't remember her name right now but I will find it and then post this picture again and give credit where credit is due. 

Here are some picturs of Alexis having fun dressed up.  She thinks she is actually Jessie the cowgirl....

She also LOVES Woody from Toy Story and today she asked me if she could get a Buzz Lightyear costume.  She loves to dress up as her favorite characters.

Alexis loves for me to share her pictures with everyone.  I hope you have enjoyed my pictures.  If so, feel free to leave a comment.  Thank you for looking.                                                                                      

Twilight cake for Faith....

Here is the Twilight cake I made for Faith's birthday.  I didn't use the cricut cake for this one.  The picture is printed with edible ink on an edible sheet of frosting.  Jania bought this for me to put on the cake.  Olivia made the apple and the flower.  I made the ribbon and helped Olivia make the chess pieces.

 

I WON A CRICUT IMAGINE!!!!!

Saturday, October 2nd, Provo Craft had a Cricut Circle Blog Celebration.  Every hour they were doing a drawing for Cricut items.  They started at 8 am Central time and ended at 1 am Central time.  I missed the first few that morning and a few that evening but, I was able to enter several.  I was trying for a Gypsy.  Well, I didn't win a Gypsy.  I won the most awesome prize ever!!!  The LAST contest of the night at 12 am they were giving away the new Cricut Imagine.  This machine launched on September 14th on HSN.  I have not been paying much attention to the information about the machine because I knew I could not afford to spend $500 on a craft machine right now.  To enter, you had to be a Cricut Circle member.  They announce what they were giving away and ask a question that you have to answer in the entry.  I entered the contest thinking the entire time, "There is no way I will win this one but I'm gonna enter anyway."  There were probably over 300 entries so, I knew the odds were against me.  Well, at 12:59 am Central time I decided to check the blog to see who the lucky winner was.  This is what I found......

The FINAL WINNER from our Blog Launch celebration and the winner of the Cricut Imagine is . . .


#1761 Brenda Zorich of Mississippi



I screamed, "OMG!!!" I jumped up out of my chair and ran through the house screaming, "OMG, OMG!!"  I scared the dogs.  They were barking and going crazy.  John was already in bed.  He uses a C-PAP machine while sleeping.  I thought he was in the living room playing the xbox.  When I made it to the living room I yelled, JOHN!!  He wasn't there.  I was heading for the bedroom yelling JOHN!! but he was already out of the bed, c-pap mask on his face, looking at me like I was crazy.  I was still yelling, of course.  I yelled, "I WON, I WON A CRICUT IMAGINE!!!"  He thought someone had broke into the house or something.  Then, I thought, "Wait, let me go check again!"  I think I was in shock!!  I came back to my craft room and checked again to make sure!!  I could hardly believe it!  I was so excited I gave myself a terrible headache and my blood pressure went up, LOL. 

This is the new Cricut Imagine:



This is such a huge blessing and yes, I have to give God credit for this.  I have learned that by blessing others you will receive double the blessing in return.  Now, don't take this the wrong way, I don't do things for others JUST to receive something back.  I love to help people.  A while back there was a post on craigslist that a woman was in need of clothing.  I had two very large boxes of clothing that I could not wear anymore and they were the exact sizes she needed.  I had planned to sell them cheap in a yard sale but, instead, I responded to her post and told her I would give them to her for free if she would just meet me somewhere to pick them up.  She called me and we met.  A few days later, she sent me an email thanking me and said it was like Christmas morning for her.  I was very happy that I was able to help someone.  I had forgotten about this until now.  I could go on and on with stories on how you can be blessed by helping others but, I think you get the point.  So, go out and help someone today.  It may not happen over night, but you will truly be blessed.   I hope I have inspired someone with my story.  Thank you for checking out my blog.  If you are not a follower and I have inspired you today, please become a follower and leave me a comment. 

Brenda "brz352"

Check this out....

Want a chance to win the Give a Hoot cartridge?  Check out this website....

http://royalthings.blogspot.com/2010/09/give-hoot-give-way.html

Joe Joe's Birthday Cake....

It is my nephew's first birthday.  I made him a Cars Lightning Mcqueen cake.  For the emblem on the hood, I had to improvise.  It was so detailed I couldn't get it to cut without tearing up so, I just cut his number and put there instead of the original design.  I like the way it turned out even if my boarder isn't that great, lol. 

I made a small cake for Joe to eat by himself since it is his first birthday.  It is kinda plain with a number one.

Thank you for looking. 

Another Altered Picture Frame.....

I sure you can tell by now that I LOVE yard sales.  I bought this picture frame for 25 cents a few months ago.  I finally got around to doing something with it.  I altered it by cutting out the words with my Cricut and the Mickey Font cartridge.  I embossed it with the cuttlebug and then inked it to bring out the embossed design.  I used pop dots to attach it to the frame.  The final touch was the picture of Olivia and Alexis at Disney World goofing off with Goofy and Pluto.....

Here is the before picture...

Here is what it looks like now....

Thank you for looking!!

Paper Doll Wardrobe...

Olivia has two birthday parties today.  The first one is for her friend Isabella.  They both LOVE American Girl so I ordered some things from American Girl but they have not made it here in time for her party.  So, for the birthday party I made this little paper doll wardrobe.  I put little pictures of her actural birthday gifts in the birthday card. 

The second birthday party is for her friend, Felicity, from school.  I made one for her and put a Justice gift card inside. 

Olivia helped me with these.  She made the clothes and accessories while I made the wardrobe and doll. 

I got this idea from Kathy Orta on the Cricut message board.  Go check out her website at   http://paperphenomenon.blogspot.com/.  She is amazing!!  She has created some really great paper crafts!  I got the cut file from blackbearblackbear on the Cricut message board.  She recreated the cut file and made some of these.  You can see the ones she made at http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=6071864&mpage=1&key=paper%2cdoll%2cwardrobe.  So, thanks you to both of these wonderful ladies for the idea and the cut file. 

I used velcro dots for the clothes.  The paper doll has a velcro dot on her tummy.  I made outfits into one piece and put velcro dots on them.  In the wardrobe, I put velcro dots on the "wall" so the outfits could "hang".  You will have to check out Kathy's, she made a little area were they actually hang and I think she made them magnetic. 

Here are pictures of ones I made....

This was a fun project.  I hope the girls enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them.  Thank you for looking and don't forget to go check out Kathy's website for some more great ideas. 

Freezer Paper T-Shirt...

I finally got the chance to try this technique.  This was inspired by someone on the Cricut message board.  I apologize for not being able to name the creator but so many people have done this that I don't remember the original creator.  I also discovered a way to attach the small pieces of freezer paper.  After ironing the large piece onto the shirt, I used my tweezer bee tweezers to hold the small pieces in place and then used my irock tool to "iron" the small pieces in place.  See the pictures below.

My 3 year old, Alexis, has a severe peanut allergy.  She will be going back to pre-school next month.  I wanted to "remind" the teachers that she has this allergy.  So, at least once or twice a week she will be wearing a t-shirt that has a saying to remind them that she has a peanut allergy.  The best prevention is awareness. 

Here is the first t-shirt I made for her.  She loves it and can't wait to wear it.  She has been walking around the house saying, "I'm a peanut free princess." 

Altered Picture Frame....

I bought this picture frame a few months ago at a garage sale for 25 cents.  When I saw it, the first thing I thought of was Olivia's and Alexis' pictures with Mickey Mouse.  So, here is what I came up with....

Before

 After

Mini Album for Paisli

I finally got the chance to finish a mini album I started a while back. It is for my neice, Paisli.