Kinda tootin' over here...

How do you like THAT title? hee hee. 

It's been some time ago that this even happened. And of course, I announced it on my Facebook page when it happened - and you KNOW I did! If the truth be known, it's not even really the first time I've tooted either. No! Really! I bet you didn't know I was that talented. uh-huh. I tooted the month before too! You have no idea how relieved I am now. Wheeeeew-eeee!


Let me show you an example of what makes me toot.
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I was published in the Cricut Magazine's Holidays Issue back in the late Fall of 2011!


And here's more reason...

And even more! I just can't stop!

How pretty did they do that up?! It looks so much prettier than MY picture of it hanging from my hubby's spray painted, flat metal train decor thing on his man-cave room mantel. LOL! Not sure why I didn't hang it from the mantel in the living room....maybe it wasn't finished yet. You can see my picture of this here.

Well, now that I've got that outta my system, I'm happy to say it was all worth it.  Yep, that was a whole lotta load off.  Don't you agree?


I haven't been all that crafty lately. I've been working on some Christmas stockings, but not much really coming of them so far. I've been mostly just playing online and just when I finally discovered Picnik, they're deciding to close. I was seriously about to pay for a year to get the Premium stuff too. I love how it turns my pictures into something better than just me alone. What the??  However,I think I am the reason that this is happening. No really. It seems that every time I find something that I like, and I mean REALLY like, it ceases to exist anymore. It doesn't really matter what it is. It's most prevalent with food and it drives me nuts at the grocery store. Am I the only one this happens to?  It's like....Whoa! That Beth chic is starting to like this stuff, so we best mess up her world and get rid of it - nooooow! Look out Pinterest, you could be in danger. And naturally, blogs will no longer be cool to have once I finally start getting somewhere with mine. Facebook is safe for a little while, I'm not all that into it (yet - shhhhh!) but they do change it more than my mother changes her mind. And you don't eeeeeven want to go there.


My sweet child came home from school today complaining of not feeling well and she has a fever, so it looks like cheerleading class ain't happening for her tonight and Alan is working really late. Looks like a good night to work on that mini album that I've only been in a creative block with for 7 months now. 

This Marks the Spot!

Before I get started on my topic at hand, I want to mention an opportunity for YOU to win a $50 gift card. Yes, I said a $50 gift card!  Who couldn't use an extra 50 bucks? All you have to do is head on over to Debbie Doo's blog to see what green apples and Head & Shoulders have in common.

Now, onto my topic....I have been trying to get into crafting again. I still need to do some serious organizing, but when inspiration strikes, ya just gotta go with the flow. I used to make book marks a few years ago for my craft shows and they were pretty popular, because they're inexpensive and practical gifts for teachers. This is not your ordinary book mark. I seen the style for these somewhere, and I'll be darned if I can remember where, maybe a scrapbook magazine?

Anyway, I thought they were a cute style and I liked the way they fit over the top of the page to stay in place better.

What about you? Do you read more in the colder/winter months? I don't. I should, but I don't. I either can't find anything that interests me or I can't put it down until it's done.

And how cute is this book page?!! I can't say that I've ever seen sketches done in RED before! The book is from the 60's and I think I may have gotten it from a garage sale or from a box full of books that our neighbor brought over. I'm not too sure. I just thought it was a cute book.

Having the bookmark fit over the top of the page is not the only positive side to this. It can also save the exact line you left off at! 

 

This image is the backside of the bookmark, and I've finished it off too, cuz ya just can't leave it all ugly & neglected!

I used scalloped circle punches that I picked up at 40% off from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago. They come in 4 sizes and being a scrapbooker, of course I have all 4.  ;^)

So, I have several of these I'm wanting to make for my craft shows that are later this year. I'm also going to make different shapes for the top. 

I made these for my daughter's class last year for Valentine's Day and I used my Cricut to cut out heart shapes for the top instead of the scalloped circles. I kept those pretty simple since I had to make 30 of them. There was no cute little embossed shape over the strip portion, just kept 'em basic. I wished I would have taken a picture of those, but I'm pretty sure I didn't.


I'm sorry that I forgot to make a tutorial on how to make these, but maybe I'll get around to it when I get a little more motivated. Tutorials are a lot of work & I sing the praises to anyone who does them!! Aaaaaand, you get bonus praises if you do videos!!

So. Is it cute?  For a bookmark?

  

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Kitchen - Small Update; HUGE inpact!

I haven't really talked much about our home. It's a very nice home .... at first glance. It's one of those great First Impression homes. When you first see it, you think Wow! What a cool place! If you lived here, you'd have a totally different story. I showed you the Austin Powers carpet that's in my laundry room here. I'm pretty sure it's original to house from when it was built in the late 1970's, as is the beige shag carpet in the living room and dining room. That one is tolerable for now, but will also being going buh-by in the next couple of years, now that our daughter is at a more responsible age.


I showed you the little lighted display cabinet we did a year ago in the kitchen. I love it!


We've had & still have several storage dilemmas in our house. It has no secret hiding places basement or attic.  We're forced to be a little creative, and let's face it, we're not all that great at having the funds to be as creative as we want, even in our thrifty world.


However, we get lucky sometimes and things work out like that's how it was supposed to.


Let's see if I can explain this. We have a lower kitchen cabinet that is on one side of a corner, but not a lazy susan cabinet. (sorry no pics, but our cabinets are fugly and I'm not showing the world until they look better.) The inside of this cabinet goes waaaaaaaay back to the wall. It's basically dead and wasted space. You practically have to crawl in the cabinet to get anything that has been shoved too far back. I don't know about you, but I'm on the back side of 40 and this ol' gal can't crawl in a cabinet anymore. My daughter could get back there, but too many mysteries could be lurking back there in the dark. know what I mean? eewwww!

We had many discussions on how solve that problem. We came up with the idea to see if we could create 3-4 panels that would match the dark walnut finish. We could make the necessary one be an actual functioning door, while the others were just for decoration. I wish I had some Before shots of what it looked like, but I wasn't THAT into blogging so much a year ago and it was just a strip of smooth paneling.

We went to the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore to see what they had there. We had just been in there a couple of days earlier and they didn't seem to have what we were looking for then. But this time we figured, what the heck?

Wouldn't you know? They had FOUR dark walnut cabinet doors with no holes drilled in them in the perfect size! Right out in front and only $4 each!! At that exact moment, the clouds parted and sun shone down from the heavens and I heard Angels sing. Well, maybe not so much all that, but it was a glorious moment!

You'll have to excuse my photo taking skills, or lack of them, but here are the panels as they look now. Not to mention that it's not a good light day here either.

This is the only functioning door and it lets us get easier access to that area and it's no longer a scary place.

My hubby even put in 2 outlets to accommodate some cheap nightlights so we can see what's in the cabinet better. One for each shelf.  Oh, and he didn't finish off the edges of the opening or anything fancy, it's purely functional here. However, someday I'd like to add something dimensional to the centers of each door panel.


So, if you have a dilemma like this and you have access to the backside of your cabinets, add some doors. It's easier and cheaper than putting in pull out shelves...which I would love those too. ;^)


God bless and have a great day!

I'm linking up to these parties: