DISNEY DREAMER DESIGNS

Blog candy winners!

2011-11-22T05:29:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all who participated in our Disney~Pixar Blog Hop and for all of the wonderful birthday wishes! Normally I take pictures of all the Random Org shots as I do them, then upload and post. Please forgive me for not doing it that way this morning. I have a VERY busy day and no time to spare. Rather than not getting the winners posted this morning, I just wanted to do it the quick way and announce them. All winners will have 1 week to get in contact with me to claim their prize. Here we go!

Winner from Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1 and her choice of a set of Kristal's stamps is....

#23 ScrapMyWay said...

Melissa, Happy Birthday & may all your wishes come true!! The tile is such an awesome way to hold on to such a great family photo. Goal accomplished...you inspired me to make one!Love the metal Mickey!!

Creative Wishes,

Claire

Winner from Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2 and the Christmas Village Cricut Cartridge is...

#29 Scrappin Rabbit Designs said...

What a yummy idea! I want to try to make these now. Thanks for sharing. Love how they turned out.

Tami

Last but not least...the winner of my Birthday Blog Candy is...

#20 arneff0404 said...

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you!! Hope you get to spend some time crafting on this special day :)

Ashley

Congratulations to the winners and stay tuned for another Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop coming your way soon! Hope everyone has a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to me!!

2011-11-21T03:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me! It is my birthday, but I am giving you a chance to win a gift! Just leave a comment on this post and be a follower and you will be entered in a chance to win a Designer's Calendar Cricut cartridge!

You will have until 11:59 PM EST today, November 21, 2011 to enter and I will use Random Org tomorrow to pick and announce the winner. Good luck!

There is also still time to get your name in for the blog candy on Day 1 of the Disney~Pixar Blog Hop and Day 2 of the Disney~Pixar Blog Hop so don't forget to stop by there if you haven't already.

Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2

2011-11-20T05:00:00.081-05:00

Welcome back for Day 2 of the Original Disney~Pixar blog hop! We love that you keep coming back to see what new and exciting things we come up with! Shawn and I are very lucky to have such amazing and talented women who continue to want to be a part of this. You should be arriving here from Shawn's blog Crafty Chics Blog who was the very first stop for the hop today.

If you didn't get a chance to hop through all the projects from yesterday you can head back to Shawn's blog here >>> Disney~Pixar Blog Hop November Day 1 to do so.

For my project today I decided to make some Mickey shaped chocolate covered Oreos! These are one of my boys favorite treats from WDW and I had never tried making them before. Using the Double Stuf Oreos is definitely a necessity (learned from trying to use the originals first), to be able to insert the sucker stick. The ears are done with Mini Oreos. Simply pull them apart and scrape off the white stuf and gently insert them into the stuf inside the large Oreo.

These are the Mini Oreos

The Oreos placed together on the sucker stick before adding chocolate.

Now...another thing I learned through trial and error... dipping the cookies into the chocolate didn't work too good. I lost many a Mickey ear in the melted chocolate! lol I decided that using one of the small Pampered Chef wooden spoons to spoon on the chocolate and kind of swirl it around gently with the back of the spoon was the best solution. I used Wilton Candy Melts and just placed them inside my glass Pampered Chef measuring bowl and into the microwave. I melted the candy in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. It took about a 90 seconds to get it melted to a good consistency in my microwave. If you try to make these at home I would just recommend checking the chocolate often so you don't end up burning it.

I made sure that my table was covered with wax paper before starting and then used the wax paper to let the cookies completely settle after removing them from the freezer. I didn't really think things out before I started, because once I got the first Mickey head covered completely in chocolate I just sat there thinking "Now what do I do with it?" Well....I have a metal Ikea shelf inside my freezer that has little holes in it that worked PERFECTLY for the diameter of the sucker sticks! So I would cover one Mickey head and then take it to the freezer, stand it up in my Ikea shelf and by the time I finished covering the next Mickey head with chocolate, the chocolate would be set on the one left in the freezer! Swaped them out and started the process over again!

I used Wilton plastic bags to cover the suckers and then finished them off by tying different Disney colored ribbon, rick rack and bakers twine!

Here is the finished product! I took them over to my friend Kaye's house the other night as treats for all the kids. Kaye's husband Rob, very graciously watched all of our kids (SIX kids ages 2-11) by himself while a group of my girlfriends went out for an early birthday dinner celebration for ME! It was a wonderful night for us and the Mickey Oreo suckers were a hit with the kids!

Okay...now for my blog candy! With Christmas right around the corner I thought I would share a Cricut Christmas Village Cartridge with one lucky winner!

In order to be eligible for my blog candy you must be a follower and leave a comment on this post by 11:59 PM EST Monday, November 21, 2011 (My Birthday!!!!!) Winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 22nd. I will use Random Org to draw the winner and they will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

We also have a GRAND PRIZE for this Blog Hop donated by ContainYa Crafts! You can have YOUR CHOICE of a Scrap'n Tote or a Scrap'n Easel! Each blog in this two day hop has a special letter, and when all of the letters are put together they spell out a secret phrase.

My letter for today is....Y

Once you have stopped at each blog in the hop (both days) and collected all of the letters, simply email the phrase they create to bloghopcontests@gmail.com. All entries must be in by Midnight on Monday, November 21st. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 22nd at Crafty Chics Blog .

Now I send you off to Megan at Above Rubies Studio to see what she has waiting for you! Thanks for hopping with us again and stay tuned for future Disney~Pixar Blog Hops from us!

One last thing before you go... I would love to have you come back tomorrow to celebrate my birthday with me!!! I am going to be giving away another Cricut cartridge as birthday present from me to one of my lucky, faithful, followers! I know that I have been neglecting my blog, as well as all of my blogging friends. I apologize for that, but my life has been a little hectic these past 11 months. I'm not sure when things will get back to 'normal' around here, but I sure appreciate you hanging in there with me! {{{HUGS}}}

Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1

2011-11-19T05:00:00.050-05:00

Thank you for hopping with us again for another installment of the Original Disney~Pixar blog hop! We love that you keep coming back to see what new and exciting things we come up with! Shawn and I are very lucky to have such amazing and talented women who continue to want to be a part of this. You should be arriving here from Shawn's blog Crafty Chics Blog who was the very first stop for the hop today.

For my project today I decided to try my hand at a photo tile. I purchased a stack of 4X4 ceramic tiles at Home Depot quite some time ago and they've been collecting dust waiting for me to do something with them. Here is what I came up with using a photo of my family at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World from our last trip in July.

I will definitely be making some more of these! I just used some of my Disney scrap paper and adhered it to the tile with Mod Podge. Then placed my matted photo onto top with another layer of Modge Podge. After everything dried, I applied one more coat of the Modge Podge. Before adding the ribbon, twine and embellishments I sprayed a clear top coat over the picture and papers. I love the little Mickey head embellishment. The metal rimmed Mickey head is by EK Success and the "Moments" embellishment was given to me in an assortment of leftovers by a scrapping friend. It fit perfectly on top of the Mickey and I like what it added.

My blog candy for today is generously being donated by the talented and lovely Kristal from Getting Cricky . Thank you Kristal!! If you are picked as a winner of my blog candy you will get to pick ONE (single set) set of stamps from Kristal's online store !

My letter for today is....A

Now I send you off to Tami's Craft Connection to see what she has waiting for you! Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Day 2 of this edition of the Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!

Happy Birthday to me and another Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!!!

2011-11-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone will stop by this weekend for another one of our Disney~Pixar Blog Hops! My birthday is Monday so this is going to be an early birthday celebration for me and I might just have a few presents to offer up to YOU! Along with the blog candy that I will have up for grabs...Marlo at Contain Ya Crafts is donating a grand prize for one lucky winner which will be your choice of a Scrap 'n Tote or Scrap 'n Easel! Be sure to come back on Saturday morning to see all of the wonderful projects!

Disney~Pixar Link-up Party WINNER!

2011-10-04T09:15:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all who took the time to participate in our first ever Disney~Pixar Link-up Party! I loved looking at all of your creations. Since collections for submissions closed last night it is time to pick a winner! I used Random Org to select my winner and the lucky number is....

Lucky #9 belongs to.....

Tina Gale!

Please stop by Tina's blog and check out her post for the totally awesome card she submitted that was created by her very special guest designer....her son Joseph. Joseph's Crush card is gorgeous and he did such a great job on his inking to add dimension to his card. Very inspiring!

Tina and Joseph, from one family of Disney fanatics to another...enjoy your Disney gift card!

2011-10-02T13:43:00.000-04:00

Hurry and get your creations linked up for our Disney~Pixar link-up party!!! See this post for further details >>> Disney~Pixar Link-up Party!

Tomorrow at midnight EST is your last chance to link up. I am giving away a $25 Disney Gift Card to one lucky winner and right now your odds are VERY good with only 13 entries linked up so far!

Come on and show me your Disney or Pixar creations!! You can enter as many times as you would like!

Disney~Pixar Blog Candy Winners!!!!

2011-09-27T11:37:00.000-04:00

The winners for the Disney~Pixar Blog Hop have been chosen and they are.....

For Day 1 and the $15 Disney Gift Card...

Comment #93 belongs to Jennasa who said:

I am so happy that I found your blog. I love Disney World so much that I go once a year and sometimes even twice.
I am now a follower and I can not wait to try the tie die Mickey shirt.

For Day 2 and the Disney Classics Cricut Cartridge....

Comment #20 belongs to Karen who said:

I posted your button on my blog! Thanks for another chance to win!

Karen was also post #19 so I thought I would add her comment from that too:

The cup and tags are adorable! Thanks for the chance to win such an awesome cartridge! I'm expecting, and my hubby is thinking about decorating the nursery with Peter Pan! This cartridge would be perfect!

When I saw her other comment I was very happy that you won! Congratulations on your new baby on the way and if you end up decorating the nursery using this cartridge please come back and share pictures with me!

Congratulations to both of the winners and thank you to all who stopped by to hop with us! Stay tuned for announcements on our next Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!

Don't forget to join us for our Disney~Pixar Link-up Party! There are some prizes to be won!

For any new Disney~Pixar card creations see this post >>> Disney~Pixar Link-up Party CARDS

For any new Disney~Pixar layout creations see this post>>> Disney~Pixar Link-up Party LAYOUTS

For any other new Disney~Pixar creations that are not a card or a layout see this post>>> Disney~Pixar Link-up Party Miscellaneous

Can't wait to see your creations!!! Have a magical day!

Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Link-up Party!!!

2011-09-26T05:00:00.003-04:00

Now is your chance to share your favorite Disney~Pixar creation with everyone! We always have so many people wanting to join our hops that we thought this was the perfect way to let those crafters participate. You can share a layout, a card, decorations, party favors or anything thing else you decide to create as long as it is Disney or Pixar related! Just post your project and then link it up by October 3rd, 2011. Post as many projects as you would like and be sure to include a link back to this post to tell others about our link-up party!

My blog is going to be specifically for card creations only! So go ahead and link as many Disney~Pixar related cards below as you would like!

If you have a layout to link up please visit Shawn at Crafty Chics Blog

Any other Disney~Pixar projects that are not a layout or a card can be linked up on Amy's blog Love to Crop

Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out the winners from the Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!

OK! Now it's time to start creating and starting linking! Here are the links for you again so you can link up your projects on the correct blog.

Disney~_Pixar Scrapbook Layouts ~ Crafty Chics Blog

Disney~Pixar Cards ~ HERE at Disney Dreamer Designs

All other Disney~Pixar projects ~ Love to Crop

I also wanted to share some link-up party blog candy! You can enter as many newly created Disney~Pixar related cards as you would like for a chance to win a $25 Disney Gift Card! You must mention our link up party in your post created between September 26, 2011 and October 3, 2011. You will have until 11:59 PM on October 3, 2011 to enter your cards below. I will use random org to pick a winner after that date. Good luck to everyone and I cannot wait to see your creations!!!

3rd Edition of The Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2!

2011-09-25T03:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome back for Day 2 of The Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop! You should be arriving from Shawn's Blog, if you just happened to stumbled across my blog you will definitely want to head back to Shawn's so you don't miss any of the fun! If you weren't here hopping with us yesterday you can check out my post from then by clicking here>>> Day 1 Disney~Pixar Blog Hop, or head back to Shawn's blog post from yesterday to start at the very beginning.

Today I have two pretty simple projects for you. I purchased this pencil cup at Hobby Lobby awhile back. It is made by Pinnacle Frames & Accents. I cut a piece of the Mickey head cardstock to fit inside the plastic cover along with a strip of white cardstock to make the Mickey head ribbon stand out a little better. To finish off the top I used this pretty yellow gathered ribbon that I had in my stash. This pencil holder now has a special place on my crafting desk!

For my second project, I've been wanting to make something for some time now to have for my blog candy packages that I send out. I never seem to have time to sit down and make a card when it comes time to get the packages in the mail so I decided to do up a bunch of tags at the same time to have on hand. I thought these were a perfect solution!

I cut the Mickey heads from the Mickey & Friends Cricut cartridge at 4" and used the Seeing Spots Cuttlebug folder to emboss just the ears. Of course I had to finish them off with my custom personalized stamp by Lisa at Stamp Out Online . If you are in the market for a personalized stamp, be sure to check out her website. You won't be sorry!

Now for the blog candy for day 2! I picked up a Disney Classics Cricut Cartridge for one of you lucky people to win! To be eligible to win you must become a follower if you aren't already and leave a comment on this post. Scroll down to find out two other ways to earn chances of winning!

For a second chance to win this cartridge please post a link to todays post on your blog about our blog hop along with a picture of the cartridge, then come back here and leave me a link to your post.

For a third chance to win this cartridge please grab my blog button and place in your blog sidebar, then come back here and leave me a link to your blog.

Please leave individual comments for each thing you do. So in total you can have up to three comments and three chances to win!

You will have until Tuesday morning September 27, 2011 at 9 AM EST to enter for my blog candy. Winner will be announced that same day. I will use Random org to draw the winner and they will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

We are also trying something new this go around and having a Disney~Pixar link up party on Monday! We will have 3 categories: Layouts, Cards and Everything Else! My blog will be hosting the Card Category, but I will have links to the other 2 blogs as well. I will be offering up a $25 Disney Gift Card for the winner of my Card Category Link-Up Party so be sure to come back and share a Disney~Pixar creation with me!!!

Now I send you off to visit Kim's blog uscrap2 for the next stop of our hop . I am very excited to see what she has created for all of us!

In case you are interested in checking out our first two Disney~Pixar Blog Hops that we held earlier this year, here are the links to my posts.
1st Disney~Pixar Blog Hop
Tie Dyed Mickey Head T-shirts
2nd Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1
2nd Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2

3rd edition of the Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1

2011-09-24T03:00:00.117-04:00

Welcome to Day 1 of The Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop! Shawn and I are thrilled with the continued excitement and support of our Disney~Pixar blog hops! After taking the summer off from creating and blogging I am very happy to be back with all of you again! You should be arriving from Shawn's Blog, if you just happened to stumbled across my blog you will definitely want to head back to Shawn's so you don't miss any of the fun!

My project today is a Pooh Bear diaper cake that I made for my cousin Nicole who is expecting her little boy in just 11 more days! I had so much fun making it and it was a big hit at the baby shower! I loved being on the lookout for Pooh items that I could incorporate into the cake. I found some cute Pooh Bear wash cloths and bibs that I was able to roll up the same size as the diapers and use them as replacements for a diaper in strategically selected places.

I have to thank Shawn at Crafty Chics Blog for her detailed instructions on putting together a diaper cake! She did a blog tutorial in July which she posted in sections over a few days. If you are interested in viewing her tutorial, be sure to start with Part One ~ Diaper Cake Getting Started. I will throw one additional little tip in to go along with Shawn's instructions. I was at home and ready to get started and I didn't have any ribbon or large enough rubberbands that would work to secure the diapers together in the larger layers. Since the rubberbands were not large enough to go around the entire bundle I just started grouping 5-6 diapers at a time around the core base that I already had placed a rubberband around by adding a new rubberband and securing it to the base by stretching the rubberband around at least one of the diapers in the exisiting core. I continued this same pattern of piecing together another 5 or 6 at a time and securing with a new rubberband. I was using the small Goody rubberbands out of the hair care aisle. I decided to use those on the diapers because I didn't have to wrap them more than once. I could just roll the diaper and slide the rubberband over it! Does that make sense to everyone the way I wrote it? I hope so...I should have taken a picture of that step to add. Once I got the enter layer complete THEN I added the decorative ribbon around the outside, but it wasn't for structure...just as a finishing touch.

I did a mixture of sized diapers for my cake. The top 3 levels are size 2 diapers and the bottom layer is size 3. My cousin was registered for Luvs brand diapers and when I opened the bags I was disappointed because they weren't just white on the outside (are any of the diapers just plain white anymore other than cloth ones? lol). Not only were they not white....they had PURPLE on them, but once I rolled one up I took a look at it and thought to myself...hmmm...the pattern kind of looks like a honeycomb which was perfect for a Pooh Bear diaper cake! So it all ended up working out great!

I found a red plastic plater at Party City (16" in diameter) which was the perfect base for the cake. The Pooh bear ribbon, red satin ribbon and the red & yellow tulle were all purchased from Joanns.

Now for my blog candy! Today I am giving away a $15 Disney Gift Card!

To be eligible for a chance to win my blog candy you must become a follower if you aren't already and leave ONE comment on this post.

You will have until Tuesday morning September 27, 2011 at 9 AM EST to enter for my blog candy. Winner will be announced that same day. I will use Random org to draw the winner and they will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 2 and a whole new set of bloggers and creations! I will also be offering up a Disney Classics Cricut Cartridge for blog candy tomorrow so you won't want to miss a chance to win that!

We are also trying something new this go around and having a Disney~Pixar link up party on Monday! We will have 3 categories: Layouts, Cards and Everything Else! I know that a lot of you have made tie dye Mickey head t-shirts from my tutorial here on my blog, I would LOVE if you shared them during the link-up party! My blog will be hosting the Card Category, but I will have links to the other 2 blogs as well. I will be offering up a $25 Disney Gift Card for the winner of my Card Category Link-Up Party so be sure to come back and share a Disney~Pixar creation with me!!!

Now I send you off to the next stop of our hop Tami's Craft Connection. Can't wait to see what she has in store for us!

In case you are interested in checking out our first two Disney~Pixar Blog Hops, here are the links to my posts.

1st Disney~Pixar Blog Hop
Tie Dyed Mickey Head T-shirts
2nd Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1
2nd Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2

Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!

2011-09-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

The 3rd edition of our Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop is now only TWO days away! Be sure to come back on Saturday, Sunday AND Monday! Saturday and Sunday we will be sharing the talents of some amazing crafty ladies (different stops each day!) and then on Monday we are giving you a chance to play along during our Disney~Pixar Link-up Party! Lots of great blog candy to be had so be sure to stop by and Be Our Guest!!

Our upcoming Disney/Pixar Blog Hop!

2011-08-18T12:08:00.001-04:00

Shawn and I have decided to start referring to our Disney/Pixar blog hops as... The ORIGINAL Disney/Pixar Blog Hop! We have been working hard to put together a good group of crafters and build a strong following. We don't want anyone to be fooled by the 'imposters'! :-)

Our next hop is is scheduled for September 24th and 25th and the new exciting twist is that on Monday the 26th we are going to have a linking up party so you can ALL join in on our fun!

We are still on summer vacation. Another 2 1/2 weeks and the boys will be back in school. My husband Jim is flying home from China next Wednesday (JUST SIX MORE DAYS!!!) and will be able to spend the last 2 weeks of the boys school vacation with us!! He will also be here for their first day of school before having to head back to China. This is been one lonnnnnnnnng work assignment and year and I cannot wait for him to be back home with us on a regular basis.

I also just realized that I completely missed my blogaversary back in July! I will have to come up with some special blog candy for you guys so stay tuned! I most likely won't be back around and into the swing of things until after school starts. I have missed my blog friends and visiting all of your blogs, but we have had a very nice summer filled with fun! Hope you are all well and that you have a magical day!

Missing in action!

2011-06-27T12:14:00.000-04:00

WOW! I cannot believe I haven't posted since June 8th! Things were crazy busy finishing up with school for the boys and then we decided to get away for a little bit and head up north to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a little R&R! We've been back home for about a week now, but that has been filled with catching up, grocery shopping, power outage, Parker's birthday and doctor's office visits. Lucky me...been battling a kidney stone. First time ever I've had this and OMG, hope I never have one again.

Hope this update finds all of you doing well. I haven't created anything new in well over a month and I really need to get my space reorganized and find my mojo! Although....that is going to have to take a back burner for now because...MY HUBBY IS COMING HOME from China!!!! We just found out two days ago that Jim is booked to fly home on Thursday!!! We have missed him sooooo much and will definitely be having some much needed family bonding time! We only have a couple of weeks to cram in a summer's worth of fun and we haven't decided for sure what that is going to be yet, but we might just be trying to squeeze a few days in at WDW. I'm a planner, so this short notice thing is driving me a bit crazy, but a few days on the spur of the moment at Disney is better than no days at Disney so I will try to go with the flow!

So thank you to my faithful followers that have stuck around even though I have been horrible not only about posting on my blog, but also horrible about checking in on all of you. Having my laptop on the fritz hasn't helped, because a lot of times I would hop on the laptop in bed during the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and get caught up on everything going on. It takes too much effort to climb out of bed and go downstairs to the desktop in the middle of the night. :) I promise I will be back at some point during July!!!! Enjoy your summer! Miss you all!

MPS NSD #10 Pet Challenge

2011-06-08T06:02:00.002-04:00

I figured that there would be a lot of dog projects entered for the pet challenge so I decided to go with a lizard! Unfortunately our lizard, Hungry Hippo passed away about two months ago. He was a little green anole and the boys miss him. We will probably get another one, but not until daddy is home on a more regular basis and not traveling as much because taking care of a lizard is not mommy's cup of tea so to speak!

The lizard is from the Boys Will Be Boys cartridge cut at 4". I used Colorbok pearlescent and Best Occasions Prismatic papers to piece him together. For the tongue I just cut a thin strip of paper and curled it around my Gypsy stylus. The background papers were all from my scraps! I tore the edges of the yellow paper and then inked it with a lime green ink.

The best thing about participating in all of these challenges was the amount of scraps I used up! The only full sheets of new paper I used were the 3 sheets I used for the scrapbook pages I did. Everything else came from my scrap basket!!!

So... today Parker graduates from elementary school. I have been dreading this day for awhile now. I have found myself shedding tears often, especially throughout this last week. Moving up to junior high is such a big step! I am going to miss seeing him in the halls, or his classroom, or in the lunchroom on my days that I am at the school. It feels like just yesterday that I was walking him through the big double doors at the school and into the kindergarten classroom to meet Mrs. Dreyer for the very first time. Our baby is growing up....

Parker at 3 years old practicing his Prince Charming skills. Great...now I'm crying again! Hope everyone has a wonderful day. I am going to try and get through mine with my water proof mascara.

MPS NSD Challenge #9 Use Glitz, Glam and Glitter

2011-06-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

Wow, I cannot believe it has been a week since I've posted on my blog! Things have been super busy! Today is the last Monday of the school year and Friday is the last day!!!! Can't even begin to tell you how ready we all are for summer vacation!

I gave up last week when I was still having trouble posting comments on blogs. No clue if blogger is fixed now or not. I apologize to all of you for my absence, but between the blogger issues and all of the school events going on there is very little spare time!

Still have a few of my MPS challenge submissions to post...

This was the card I made for the Glitz, Glam and Glitter challenge! Not sure how much "Glam", but there is definitely some glitz and glitter! I thought this one turned out really cute!

The croc was cut from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge at 2 1/2". After he was cut I ran him through the Cuttlebug with the Mesh folder. I also embossed the turquoise background paper with the Seeing Spots Cuttlebug folder. All the paper and the ribbon was from my scrap basket and I used Stickles and Jolee's All that Bling to give the croc his "Glitz and Glitter". The stamped sentiment is by Pink Stamper.

Hope all is well with everyone and that you haven't given up on me! I promise to be around more frequently soon! Just get me to Friday...get me to Friday...get me to Friday!!! :)

Still can't leave comments

2011-05-30T08:43:00.000-04:00

Boy it sure has been a month of issues with blogger for me! First towards the beginning of the month I couldn't post...then I couldn't view any of the blogs I follow in my blogger reader for WEEKS...then once that was fixed, for about the last week I haven't been able to leave comments on other's blogs! FRUSTRATING!!!

On a much more important note... thank you to all that have or are currently serving our country and making sacrifices to afford us our freedoms and keep us safe. Freedom is not free, it comes with the highest of costs...the cost of blood. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial Day.

MPS NSD Challenge #8 Summer Theme

2011-05-26T05:42:00.002-04:00

Phew! I completed ALL 12 of the challenges for the My Pink Stamper National Scrapbooking Day Celebration!!!! I didn't go in order since I didn't get to start on time with the others. I might not have started on time, but I FINISHED them all and got them posted before the deadline last Monday (5/9/11).

This challenge was Summer Theme and what says "summer" more than making S'mores?!?! I had a particular friend in mind when I made this card. Wonder if she will see this and know I'm talking about her? I am so in love with the Campin' Critters Cricut cartridge!!!! When I first got it and looked through the handbook I knew I was going to cut this cute little porcupine and that I had the perfect sentiment stamp to go along with it! (I just love saying the word "porcupine". With heavy accent on the "u" a little shout out to the Disney movie Chicken Little... "Porcupine" hee hee)

The porcupine (hee hee) was cut at 4" from the Campin' Critters Cricut cartridge. The fire and logs were cut at 2 3/4" from Campin' Critters as well. I used some Dew Drops metallic ink on the spiky edges of the porcupine. The stamped sentiment is Pink by Design. I used an orange Martha Stewart glitter marker on the flame and white liquid applique on the marshmallow and hit it with my heat gun. Doesn't the marshmallow look cool!?!?! Almost good enough to eat don't you think?

Well that might have been the last project I completed for the challenges, but since I'm posting them in numerical order for all of you...there are still 4 more to come so stay tuned!

MPS NSD Challenge #7 Create a Scrapbook Page

2011-05-25T06:03:00.000-04:00

I started this layout MONTHS ago. I had picked out the patterned paper and matted the photos, but then I couldn't decide what else to add or embellish it with. I decided to pull it back out and work on it for the scrapbook page challenge. Glad I did and figured out what to do with it!

"flying high" was cut from Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge. The peanuts are from the Create a Critter cartridge and I used the hide/contour freature to hide the face on them and then unlinked so I could adjust just the height and not the width to stretch them out a bit. After I cut them out of Recollections Kraft paper I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the mesh embossing folder and inked them up a bit. The tickets are cut from the seasonal Summer Vacation Cricut cartridge and inked up as well.

Hope you all have a happy hump day! One day closer to the three day weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

MPS NSD Challenge #6 Incorporate a Tag

2011-05-24T05:05:00.001-04:00

This was the second to last challenge that I completed. For some reason...this one took me the longest to come up with an idea. Once I remembered these vellum and metal star tags in my stash, I knew I wanted to use them, but wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to put them with. I searched for "moon" in my Gypsy and this phrase came up and that was it!!!

"Over the Moon" was cut from the Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge at 3". All papers used were from my scrap basket and I tied the stars off with some Twinery bakers twine. I placed a small pop dot on the back of the large star to anchor it to the card, but the small star is just dangling freely.

For not really having a vision and kind of just letting it happen, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Last day of bagel orders for the school today! One more thing to check off my list! How are you spending your Tuesday?

Farewell to my Pink Flamingo days....

2011-05-23T05:24:00.001-04:00

Time to share my very last guest designer post as a pink flamingo over at Karel's blog. I wanted to keep with Karel's theme for this month which was flowers. I found these adorable little canning jars at Meijers a few weeks back and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with one (or two...maybe three) of them! I made a little pin cushion out of it for some of the stick pin embellishments I've been working on.

It was a really simple and quick project. I just cut some quilt batting pieces and then a large circle of fabric for the top. I used my ATG to put adhesive on the back of my crinkle ribbon for around the jar lid.

I found a lot of great beads that I wanted to try out and experiment making some stick pins with. I decided to try these ones out first since the beads have little flowers on them as well!

Supplies: 4 oz canning jar, My Craft Spot crinkle ribbon, fabric from Hobby Lobby, felt flower by Pebbles Inc., Pins and beads from Joanns (sorry, didn't keep the name of the brand before I removed them from the package).

I want to thank Karel for inviting me and giving me a shot to be a part of my first ever design team. I also appreciate her asking me to stay on, but with summer vacation from the boys school fast approaching I didn't want to make a commitment to something like that. We love our summer vacation and cherish the time and my crafting time becomes hit and miss. I didn't want to have any deadlines or obligations to uphold.

I get to go shopping with Jamie again!! We had so much fun last week, but not enough time. I have lived down here for 16 years and that girl had me places I've never been before!!! I still need to share pictures with you of all the goodies I got on that trip. Maybe I'll save them and add pics of whatever new stuff I get! :)

MPS NSD Challenge #5 Add a 3D item

2011-05-22T19:06:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! Sorry I fell behind on posting my Pink Stamper challenges! I have had the pics taken and uploaded, but haven't had the time to get the actual posts compiled. I didn't want to post this one too quick anyways since I was sending it to my SIL Tami. I wanted to make sure she got it before I showed it off here. Isn't he just bee-utiful!?!

The bee was cut at 5" from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. I put him on an Action Wobble and used buttons under his googly eyes to give them even more dimension. The nose is a Jolees All that Blings embellishment. I used glitter cardstock for his wings and then inked them up a bit. The stamped sentiment is from My Pink Stamper. The ribbon is crinkle ribbon from My Craft Spot. I fell in love with this printed cardstock when I found it. I thought it looked like honeycombs and that it would be good for Winnie the Pooh cards and/or layouts, it is from Recollections. The crotched flower and gingham brad are from my stash. I received a small set of hand made crocheted flowers last year sometime from someone that sent me blog candy. I sure wish I could remember who it was because they are so nice!! I used to crochet many, many, many moons ago....maybe I should try to pick it up again and make some flowers.

We have had a VERY busy weekend! Yesterday we left our house at 8:15 AM and other than two quick, 5 minute stops by the house to let the dog out we were gone all day until about 10 PM! Lets just say that when our heads hit the pillows we were out! We had a baseball game, went and saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides movie out at the Henry Ford IMAX theater in 3D (it was AWESOME!!!) and then over to my friend Kaye's for dinner. She made some awesome chicken on the charcoal grill with some green beans, fresh garden salad and brown rice. It was sooooooo good! It just felt so nice to kick back with friends in the beautiful summer weather and listen to the kids playing in the yard. Life is good.

We had another baseball game this morning and then had some fun at the park with our dog Max. The game just happened to be at our favorite park today where we normally take Max, so he got to go with us. Just as we were getting ready to leave, his girlfriend Darcy (yes...our dog is a player) showed up so we had to stay and let them run and play together. That was fine though because the weather has been absolutely amazing! Mother Nature certainly got it right this weekend! We also got some clothes shopping in for the boys. They both needed some good dress clothes for some important events coming up. We've had a few hours here at the house late this afternoon to get some things done that couldn't be put off any longer.

We are in the home stretch for the school year. 3 weeks left. Last week I finished my last popcorn popping duties for the year and this week wraps up bagel sales for the year! I love being able to scratch duties off my list! Chess Club also concludes this week which will lighten up the load as well. I love all of the fun events and being able to be around the school with my boys, but by the end of the year I am so grateful to have some down time and have our schedule lighten up. Looking forward to not having to rush in the morning...every morning to be out the door. Roll on June 11th!!!

HUGE giveaway over at Keepsakes by Melissa

2011-05-21T22:30:00.000-04:00

Keepsakes by Melissa

$100 Gift Card

Who couldn't use this? Head on over and leave her some blog love for your chance to win!

Win Everyday Pop-Up Cards Cricut cartridge!!!

2011-05-19T06:49:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday! I again have a project to share with you, but didn't get the post typed up so this is what I am going to leave you with for right now. Sherrie is having a fabulous giveaway on her blog for the new Everyday Pop-Up Cards Cricut cartridge!!! I haven't been able to find this cartridge at any of the brick and mortar stores yet, how about you? Head on over and become a follower of Sherrie's and leave her a comment for your chance to win. You have until May 24th to enter here>>> Sherrie Scraps with Passion

Today is the last day of the Chess Club Tournament for the boys. They both still have two more games to play. Parker is still undefeated at this time (knock on wood). Tanner isn't doing quite as good, but he's still a work in progress and holding his own pretty good since he was paired up right away against a 5th grader, a 4th grader and the 3rd place finisher from last year! I tell him it is only going to make him a better chess player. His time will come. Next week finishing places will be announced and awards will be handed out.

Today....today I get to play with the very talented and sweet Ms. Jamie from Bits of Paper by Jamie Lane Designs!!! We have an adventure planned for today that could or could not turn out to be successful. However, no matter the outcome I will be in good company and that alone is worth it's weight in gold! Have a great day my friends!!!

Slowly, but surely....

2011-05-18T14:16:00.001-04:00

Hello my friends!!! I am slowly, but surely starting to feel better. I've spent the last couple of days not doing much (well...at least not as much as I normally do) and sounding like a tween boy. I finally got a pretty decent night of sleep without coughing my head off last night and although I'm still feeling a little warn down, I went and treated myself to a Starbucks and a pedicure this morning after I finished what I needed to take care of at the school!

I've been horrible about staying caught up on the blogs I follow this past week or so. If you are used to seeing me around and commenting...please forgive me. Things will get back to 'normal' (whatver that is) soon.

Just wanted to share with you what the lovely Linda from Nothin' Fancy sent me! She was looking for a sentiment for a stamp that she had a couple weeks ago and she liked mine best!!! Here is a link to the card she ended up making... Linda's card She sent me some baker's twine and this lovely card she made for me! Thanks Linda! I'm tickled that you liked my sentiment best!

I also just got the new Pink By Design Animated Greetings II stamp set in the mail from Sarah the other day!!! I'm super excited about this because I helped Sarah with this set!!! It is so cool seeing my suggestions and sentiments I've used in the past (computer generated) on a set of stamps!!!! Stay tuned because there are more "Disney" related ones to come because I sent her PAGES AND PAGES of ideas! lol Thanks Sarah, it has been so much fun working on these with you!!!

It is killing me that I haven't been feeling good enough to break these out of the package and make something with them! I will be sure to post something as soon as I do!

I also won a $10 gift certificate from SVG Cuts on Celeste's Blog Touched by a Butterfly from a hop last weekend!!! Thanks Celeste!

On a side note...Fed Ex showed up and tried to deliver my table and chairs I won from Robert's Crafts today WHILE I WAS GONE GETTING MY PEDICURE!!!!! Not sure how delivery is going to fit into my schedule tomorrow either. Why couldn't they show up Monday or Tuesday while I was home sick????? Frustrating.

Hope this post finds you all well. Thanks for sticking in there with me. I have more MPS Challenge projects to post for you, but I seriously couldn't even make my mind work properly to type up the posts for them. I mean...I could have typed something, but there was no guarantee any of it was going to make sense through the cold medicine! lol Happy Wednesday! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Pirates of the Caribbean for us this weekend!!! Wahooo!! Can't wait!

Flaunt it Fridays Challenge

2011-05-15T12:44:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the very poor picture quality. The weather here today leaves a lot to be desired and I tried many different locations and angles to get a good photo with no luck.

The challenge over at Flant it Fridays is to use the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I have had these photos from our 2009 trip that we went to MNSSHP ready to go, but never finished the layout. This was the perfect opportunity. I didn't save the file on my Gypsy and I didn't write down the sizes I used on the cuts so I apologize. The skull is a stamped image on black paper using Dew Drops ink and Inkadinkado stamps. Everything else is from Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge.

I was able to complete a few things yesterday, which is a good thing considering how I feel today. This crazy weather has been getting the best of me. I wish Mother Nature would just pick a 10 degree temperature range and stick with it! This going from 80 degree days to 40 degree days stinks!!! I think I am going to take a hot bath, lather up with some Vicks, find some throat drops and crawl back into bed. This isn't what I had planned for the day, but sometimes things just don't work out like they are planned. I might be back later to post a card I made for a challenge, but for now I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday.

MPS NSD Challenge #4 Mother's Day

2011-05-13T05:38:00.002-04:00

Challenge #4 was to create something for Mother's Day which was perfect since I still hadn't made my mom a card! Ooops!

All of the paper was from my scrap basket. The "Happy Mother's Day" was cut from the Celebrate With Flourish Cricut Lite cartridge at 2 1/2". The pink glitter flower button was from my stash and I tied it off with some Twinery bakers twine.

TGIF!!! The boys have an early release day today so we get to start our weekend a little early! Hope you all have a great one!

MPS NSD Challenge #3 Breast Cancer Theme

2011-05-12T10:40:00.003-04:00

Challenge #3 was to make something with a Breast Cancer Theme. I was excited to find that there is a support ribbon on the Stand and Salute Cricut cartridge! I found it by doing a search on Shawn's site My Cut Search! I cannot tell you how often I use her awesome site!!! Did you know that if you are looking for a specific style of font that you can search for that too? All you do is put the letter you are looking for in the search box and search! You can do it in lower case or upper case and that is what it will search for! Sure beats pulling out all of your handbooks to search for just the right font!

The ribbon was cut out of Best Occasions Prismatic paper from the Stand and Salute Cricut cartridge at 3 1/2". The background patterned paper is a piece of Heidi Grace that I had left over from another project. The sentiment (which is a sentiment I LOVE!) is computer generated.

Tonight is my last PTO meeting serving as President! I made the decision that I didn't want to run again next year. I have been so involved in our school PTO since Parker started at this elementary school 6 years ago, last year serving as VP and this year as President. I will still be very involved, but I just didn't want the extra responsibilities and obligations (mostly which I put on myself) that come along with the title next year. Jim has been traveling out of the country a lot and we are unsure of what the future holds with that come fall and Parker will be moving onto junior high which is going to put a whole new spin on our lives having kids at two different schools. I felt a huge sense of relief when I made the announcement at the April PTO meeting that I wouldn't be seeking another term. My official duties will not end until after I pass off my files and check signing responsibilities in June, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it looks soooooooo good! :)

The love of my life...

2011-05-12T05:33:00.002-04:00

Twenty-seven years ago today (wow.....seriously...TWENTY-SEVEN???) my hubby and I went on our very first date as boyfriend/girlfriend. I was just finishing my freshman year of high school and he was a friend of mine that lived up the road and did lawn work for the elderly family friend that lived across the field from us. I had seen Jim cutting the grass or painting a barn many times before we started a friendship, but never dreamed that the 'nice young man' that worked for Mrs. Wood would someday be my amazing husband that would bless me with our two wonderful boys. I was lucky enough to marry my best friend and I cannot imagine a day in this life without him.

Love you babe!

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #2 Kraft Paper

2011-05-11T05:35:00.001-04:00

Challenge #2 - use Kraft Paper

It was back in January at a crop that I found my new paper addiction....Kraft Paper! I have stacks of this stuff now! I LOVE the Bo Bunny Kraft Paper with the dots! OMG....LOVE it! I didn't use that on this card though. This Kraft paper I used is by Recollections.

I think this is the first time I've used my Paper Lace Cricut cartridge (which I bought on Black Friday!). There are some beautiful cuts on this cartridge...I just hadn't used it YET. This "Get Well Soon" lace is from that cartridge cut at 4". I used a Martha Stewart glitter marker on the "Get Well Soon" part and left the flowers plain and added the buttons on top. Both the Kraft paper and the plaid printed cardstock (by Sassafras) were from my stash basket.

Happy Hump day! One day closer to Friday which is an early release day for the boys at school! Wahooo!!!

I was one of the winners over at My Pink Stamper!!!

2011-05-10T20:54:00.001-04:00

Robyn sent me an email today that I was one of the winners from her National Scrapbooking Day Challenges! I sadly didn't win the Imagine (boo hoo), but I did win a Rock Princess Cricut cartridge for my card entry for challenge #11 which was to make a project using pink, green and black! You will see my card when it comes up next week since I'm posting the challenges in numerical order. So.... the even better news is....I will probably be using the Rock Princess cartridge as a giveaway here on my blog at some point because I already own it!

Thank you so much to Robyn over at My Pink Stamper for all of her hard work putting together an amazing day of fun challenges and for all of the awesome prizes she had up for grabs for all of us. Last year I didn't finish all of the challenges because of time constraints and prior commitments, but I am so happy and proud to say that I accomplished finishing each and every one of them this year! Can't wait til next year! Congrats to all the other winners as well!

My Pink Stamper National Scrapbooking Day Challenge submissions

2011-05-10T05:33:00.003-04:00

Hello! I had so much fun participating in Robyn's NSD Challenges over at My Pink Stamper! I ended up loading all of my project pictures into Photobucket to link up to her blog since I was having major blogger issues. It looks like I'm able to post again now, but I still cannot view any of the blogs I follow on my Reading List. It is SO FRUSTRATING!!! So my apologies to all of you that I visit on a normal basis. I am not the only one having this problem so hopefully they will get it fixed soon!

I am going to share all 12 of the projects that I created for the NSD challenges. I will do one a day until you've seen them all. Thanks for stopping by!

Here was challenge #1 which was to use a cupcake on a project.

I didn't use a cartridge for the cupcake (which is probably pretty obvious lol), I just free hand cut it and then ran the 'wrapper' through my paper crimper. I used white liquid applique (but didn't heat it) over a piece of lavendar sparkle paper to give it a frosting look. The 'cherry' is a velvet brad by Spare Parts. The "Happy Birthday!" sentiment stamp is by TPC Studio Stamps. All the paper were scrap pieces from my scrap basket!

Hope you are all having a good start to your week. This week has already started off MUCH better than last week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues!

Look what the mail lady brought me!

2011-05-09T12:03:00.000-04:00

Here is another one of my posts that has been in limbo with all the blogger problems! Last Thursday this was in my mailbox! I won it from sweet Cathie over at Creative Cutter Room from the Earth Day It's My Birthday Blog Hop! I just wanted to publically thank her! Stop over and pay Cathie a visit, she has some amazing creations on her blog!

Great giveaway on Rexann's blog!

2011-05-09T11:46:00.000-04:00

Go check out the awesome giveaway on Rexann's blog! While you are there show her some blog love and become a follower! :)

Click here>>> i Be Circled

1000 Followers Blog Candy WINNER!

2011-05-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge for the 1000 followers celebration. As you may have already read...I've been having major Blogger issues! Hopefully this will post without issue. There were 219 comments left and I used Random org to pick the winning number which was....

Congratulations Denise!!! Denise has been a long time follower and is always leaving me the nicest comments, so I was so happy when I saw that #98 was next to her name! Denise, please email me your shipping information ASAP (melissaallore at hotmail dot com). I really NEED to get to the post office this week to get all of the blog candy sent out from the last couple of hops. All of you that have won candy from me from the past 4 hops I was involved in, please be patient with me. I want to make one trip to the post office with everything and I'm still waiting on addresses from a couple of people. I promise I won't forget you and that everything will be on it's way soon! Hugs, Melissa

A surpising email!

2011-05-08T20:26:00.000-04:00

UGH!!!! First of all...I have been having a horrible time with Blogger since last Thursday! I haven't been able to see any of the blogs that I follow (and I follow A LOT) on my reader list. So I have been missing out on everyone who has been posting. So I apologize for not stopping by any of your blogs that I normally frequent and comment on. I have posted complaints about the problem to blogger (I am not the only one experiencing this issue), but at this time there still is no fix. I have also been having issues posting! I keep getting error messages! I am hoping at some point when I click the "publish post" button that it actually does PUBLISH MY POST!

I have picked the winner for the Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge from my 1000 follower celebration. As soon as things are running smoothly again for my posting I will get that up.

Meanwhile I have been creating away!!! I've been participating in Robyn's NSD challenges and I'm not far from finishing up! I have only two of the twelve challenges left to finish! Wahooo! It has been so much fun! I've been posting the pictures in Photobucket since I've been having so much trouble with blogger, but I will be sure to share all of the projects with you once my posts start going through properly.

So now for my exciting news! Saturday night while I was getting ready for Pink Stamper live Ustream....I checked my email and in the junk folder there was an email with "winner" in the subject line. I don't normally open things in my junk folder that I do not know who they are coming from...but this one peaked my interest and I decide to click on it to look at the preliminary information and see if there was enough info without having to click on any links to see what it was about. Well I didn't have to click on any links...everything I needed to know was laid right out for me! Here is what I saw...

Congratulations, Melissa! Your comment was picked to win the LIfetime Tables and Chairs! YAY! I'm so excited for you, and completely jealous. ;) Reply back to this email and we'll get your info sent to Lifetime for them to send you your PRIZE!

Have an amazing day, and HAPPY SCRAPBOOK DAY!

I won from the Roberts Crafts blog! You can check that out here>>> Roberts Crafts Lifetime Giveaway

OMGoodness!!! I was (AM) so excited! This is a prize package worth over $200!!!! Look what I get! I love their stuff BTW...I have 3 of their 4 foot adjustable height tables and 2 of their adjustable personal tables (TV tables). Now I am going to be the owner of 1 - 6ft folding table and FOUR of their chairs!!!

...and FOUR of these!!!!!

Go ahead Sandy!!! Tell me how lucky I am!!! On this one I will have to agree with you! Still smiling over it!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who celebrate! Hope today has been top notch for you! I got my wish...MY BOYS DIDN'T FIGHT (much)! lol

Now...crossing my fingers that this post goes through!!!!!!!

Thank you Jamie!!!

2011-05-05T07:01:00.000-04:00

Last fall Jamie from Bits of Paper - Designs by Jamie Lane and I discovered that we lived very near to each other when I won the Scrap 'n Tote that she was giving away on her blog. Rather than spending the money to ship it to me we decided to meet up so she could give it to me. We were both planning on being at an area JoAnn's one day so that was the determined meeting spot! Although we didn't get to spend much time together that day it was a very pleasant experience and I could tell right away she was my kind of gal! We've been trying many times since then to get our schedules to gel so we could get back together. Jamie is heading the the Mega Meet today and oh how I wish my schedule would have been clear so I could have went with her!!! I haven't been out to Novi for that in years and I really miss going. I sure hope she has fun, but I'm sure we would have had more fun if we could have been there together!

So yesterday I had an hour and a half of free time so I FINALLY made it over to Jamie's house! Jamie and I have a lot in common and a very similar sense of humor which I love! BUT...I did find one thing that we differ on....HER SCRAPPING SPACE IS IMMACULATE!!!!! I was in awe of her space and organization! WOW! I want to live in her house! lol I told her that yesterday and she said we would have to get a bigger space! lol Seriously...walking into her craft room was like walking into an Archiver's!!!!!!!

I so wish I would have been able to stay longer than I did, but I had to get back to the school to pick up my darn kids (guess that's part of being a responsible adult)!!! Speaking of kids....Jamie's son is even cuter in person than he is in all of the pictures of him on her blog. I told him that yesterday and he said "thanks". LOL So stinkin' cute! He reminds me of my Tanner and I'm not sure that's such a good thing! We could have trouble if we got these two together!

So...... Look at all the goodies that Jamie had waiting for me to take home!!! She is working for Momenta now and has shared some of their awesome goodies for me to give them a try. Just look at everything she gave me! WOW! Thank you sooooo much Jamie!

She also received a box of Mother's Day flowers from ProvoCraft that just so happen to come with an attached coupon for a free 3 month subscription the the Cricut Circle and guess who she shared one of her flowers with?????? YES!!! *squeal* ME!!! Look!!!

I was seriously in shock all the way back to the school as I would glance over at the passengers seat and see all of those goodies sitting there. So super sweet of Jamie to share her good fortune with me. Hopefully one day next week our schedules are going to mesh so that she can show me some of her hidden treasure shopping spots! She had this adorable 3D clear framed art piece of her daughter and then told me she found the frame at a local dollar store! WHAT? I need to go there! ...and hopefully on Monday we will be!

Jamie, seriously...I cannot thank you enough! Thanks for being so persistent with me. I really need to start making more time for myself so I can do things like this. I really enjoyed our time and conversation even though it was much shorter than I would have liked. Looking forward to seeing you next week! Thanks again and I hope you have a blast at the Mega Meet today! Maybe some of our lucky Michigan Cricut Board friends or blog followers will be lucky enough to cross paths with you and get a Cricut Circle flower of their own!!! If anybody is headed that way today be sure to stay on the lookout for Jamie!

Two bloggers looking for more followers!

2011-05-04T19:53:00.000-04:00

I am trying to help two bloggers reach their followers goal! In return they are both giving everyone a chance to win a cartridge!

First up is Jessica at My Critter Creations. Jessica is trying to get to 100 followers and if you are picked as the winner you can choose which of the 10 cartridges she has up for grabs that you would like!!!

Next is Kristin at Pinkldycrafter. Kristin is trying to reach 400 followers and is giving away an Imagine More Cricut cartridge for your Imagine or E2!

Please stop by and show your support for both of these ladies. Don't forget to become a follower and leave them a comment. Be sure to tell them that Melissa at Disney Dreamer Designs sent you!

I got to visit with one of my blogging friends today for a little bit and there is no doubt in my mind that she is going to become a friend IRL! I will share all of the details with you tomorrow!

Did anybody notice anything about my card yesterday?

2011-05-04T07:16:00.001-04:00

First off...I want to that all of you who voted for my Yeti layout over at Patches of Pink! I won the Readers Pick! I really appreciate your support!

I was also wondering if anybody noticed anything special about the card I posted yesterday? Look closely... Do you see it? Is there something in the picture that I've never used before??? See it now?

I feel like that Verizon commercial "Can you hear me now?" lol

Well....do you see it now?

IT IS A...........

FLOWER FROG!!!!!!

Saturday morning I got a call from my friend Kaye saying "I left something for you on your porch." The funny part of this story is....I sent Parker downstairs to bring me whatever was sitting on the porch and he brought me back ONLY the note that was standing up on the flower frog! lol So when I read the note I was like "what the heck" (or similar words hee hee). I told Parker that there must be something else out there so he headed back outside and returned and said "This???????" To which I replied with a loud *SQUEAL*!!!! So excited! Thank you Kaye!!!!! I NOW HAVE A FLOWER FROG!!! Some of my cards may still be going on the easel just to change things up a bit and if any of my cards are any thicker than the elephant card I will have to use the easel. The spikes are really close together on this flower frog and I was afraid I was going to damage the paper when inserting because of the multiple paper layers, but it worked and I love the looks of it!

Here' hoping that today is better than yesterday. I'm still feeling very violated from the credit card fraud issue. Karma people...karma...oh yes, I do believe!

Baby Elephant Card

2011-05-03T13:25:00.001-04:00

Friends of ours just had a new baby boy, a week ago today to be exact! I purchased this cute little 'Cheeky Elephant" tote from Thirty-One and we have a couple of Disney items including a stuffed Dumbo going inside it. I decided to make an elephant card to go along with it. Now that I finally have the card finished we can actually go and meet him and take the gift! Can't wait for that baby fresh smell!!!!!

The elephant was cut at 5" from the Paisley Cricut cartridge out of Heidi Grace paper. Background patterned paper is also Heidi Grace. Sentiment is by TPC Studio Stamps stamped with Dew Drops Brilliance Ink. My Craft Spot crinkle ribbon, Spare Parts polka dot button, Wrights rick-rack and white uniball pen were used for the finishing touches.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
NSD Scrapbooking Bingo at Crystal's Blog Crafting for Caitlyn (used die cutter, item that pops, ink something to make a BINGO from card one!)

I am also linking this card up for the Patches of Pink Link Party on Thursday when it's posted.

I have had an interesting morning. When I got home from the school I had phone messages from AMEX fraud detection services. Um yeah....apparently someone in California had a lot of fun with my AMEX card! It is amazes me the lack of integrity some people have. Shameful indeed. Hoping that the rest of my day is better than the beginning of my day!

Now for the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious WINNERS!!!!

2011-05-03T12:54:00.002-04:00

Winners from Day 1 of the Disney/Pixar Blog Hop

The winner of the $15 Gift Certificate to Pink by Design

Using Random Org with a total of 175 eligible comments

#113
Scrappin Melissa said...

Great job on both the LO and the card. Thanks for sharing! This hop has been so much fun. Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store.

*****

The winner of the My Craft Spot Crinkle Ribbon

Using Random Org with a total of 175 eligible comments

#41

Sandy from Ukiah said...

AWESOME layout Melissa, I so agree with you the stitching really adds to the layout... and I love the Pinocchio card.. how adorable is he.. how big did you make him??? I love love him. Did you get your E2??? hugs

*****

The winner of the Mickey Celebrate Cuttlebug Folder

Using Random Org with a total of 175 eligible comments

Cindy said...

love it!!!

*****

Winners from Day 2 of the Disney/Pixar Blog Hop

The winner of the Pooh & Friends Cricut Cartridge

Using Random Org with a total of 165 eligible comments

#164

Kaye said...

I would LOVE to win either of those things!!!
******

The winner of the Princess Cuttlebug Folder

Using Random Org with a total of 165 elibible comments

#65
Minta's Creations said...

Melissa, I love your layout! Your creations rock..Hugs, Minta

*****

The winner of the Grand Prize of a Gypsy donated by Marlo of Contain Ya Crafts is....

Stephanie Kenzakowski

of Scrapping with Stephanie!!!

All winners with the exception of Stephanie need to contact me (melissaallore at hotmail dot com) within a week with their shipping details to claim their prizes (please add Blog Hop name and prize won to the email subject line). Thanks to everyone who played along and helped us to have another successful Disney/Pixar Blog Hop! We will keep you posted as soon as we have a date in place for the next one!

Gypsy Winner from Disney/Pixar Blog Hop!

2011-05-03T06:07:00.001-04:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you who stopped by for our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop this past weekend. I had so much fun participating and loved all of the amazing projects that all our bloggers shared! Stay tuned for details on our next one. It may be a couple of months to get another hop in place with all the busy work happening in our lives with the end of the school year fast approaching, but mark my words....there will be a Disney/Pixar Blog Hop 3!!!

Now it is time to announce the winner of the Gypsy that was generously donated by Marlo at Contain Ya Crafts. Drum roll please...........................

The lucky winner is.....

Stephanie Kenzakowski

Scrapping with Stephanie!!!

CONGRATULATIONS STEPHANIE!

Stephanie has already been notified and supplied us with her shipping information, so she should start stalking her mailman soon! Enjoy that Gypsy! It has absolutely change my crafting life!

I will be back later to announce the winners for my blog candy! Have a great morning!

I will not be sorry for the feelings of joy I felt last night!

2011-05-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

I saw this on Dayami's blog earlier today and I loved it so I'm sharing it here with all of you.

Now I lay me down to sleep...one less terrorist the world to keep...with all my heart I give my thanks...to those in uniform regardless of ranks...you serve our country and serve it well...with humble hearts your stories tell...so as I rest my weary eyes...while freedom rings our flag still flies...you give your all, do what you must...with God we live and God we trust....Amen.

*******

I changed up my playlist so the song Golden Dream was at the top. For those of you who are not familiar with The American Adventure in the World Showcase at Epcot in Walt Disney World.... this show touches my heart each and every time I see it. I always end up in tears even though I know what I am going to see and how it is going to end, yet I go back again and again and again and will continue to. You will hear actual, real life sound takes from various pieces of our history within this song. This song is played at the end of the show where they do a photo montage which includes images from 9/11.

Did you hear the story of the baseball fans last night cheering when they heard about the death of Bin Laden? It was a game against the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies (2 of the states that were included in the devistation of 9/11). Cheering and chants of "USA" erupted in the 9th inning with the game tied at 1. 911 = 9/11. I found that to be pretty profound.

Thank you to our soldiers who keep us safe and to their families who sacrifice so much to make it happen. May the events of yesterday bring closure and hopefully some peace to the families who lost loved ones during that horrible day in our country's history. May you truly rest in peace now Brock.

Brock Safronoff

Happy Birthday Slugger!

2011-05-02T13:12:00.001-04:00

Here is a birthday card that I made for Parker's best friend Joseph. Joseph is also the son of our good friends Joe and Angela. His birthday was last Friday and Saturday was his first baseball game of the season. He was so excited last week to show me his new team uniforms! They are the Lugnuts and their uniforms are black and red (DISNEY colors!!!), We love Joseph and we love going to his baseball games. We were there in the cold, blowing wind on Saturday for his first game and although his team lost, Joseph played an AWESOME game! He is a sure bet for the team MVP this year! Game two is tonight and we will be there cheering him on once again! GO LUGNUTS!!!

This card was pretty plain, but it ended up with exactly the look I was going for! I wanted the outside framing with the stitching to resemble a baseball. I cut the baseball player out of black at 5" from the Sports Mania Cricut cartridge. After matting the baseball player onto a piece of red, I matted it again on top of a piece of black before stitching with the white thread. Then I took a piece of white cardstock and cut it just a little smaller than the card base and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder before using the red thread to stitch it onto the card. The sentiment was computer generated.

I am entering this card into the following challenge:

What I Like to do in the Spring Challenge over at Lynda's Creative Touches

Don't forget to stop by Patches of Pink and vote for my Yeti Expedition Everest Layout (entry #37) or my Disney dog treat jar (entry #38)! You can click here to vote>>> Patches of Pink Link up Party Voting is only open until Noon EST Tuesday, May 3, 2011.

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 1 with Blog Candy (Still a chance to enter until 11:59 PM EST 5/2/11)

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 2 with Blog Candy (Still a chance to enter until 11:59 PM EST 5/2/11)

1000 Followers Celebration Blog Candy (Can enter until 11:59 PM EST 5/6/11)

By the way...my E2 was delivered on Friday!!! I didn't get a chance to get it out of the box until Saturday night and I did get it all Sync'd and updated along with my Gypsy. However, that is all I got to do with it at that time since I still had to finish up my blog hop post for yesterday and hop through my fellow crafters posts from Saturday. ...but I did finally get a chance to play with my E2 yesterday and I'm in love!!! I have to say that the number one thing I noticed and fell in love with IMMEDIATELY are the little mat guides built in so that the mat stays right on track when you load it! LOVE THIS FEATURE!!! I have been working on a couple of cards using my E2 that I will be sharing within the next couple of days!

Lot's of business!

2011-05-02T10:58:00.002-04:00

If you haven't participated in the Disney/Pixar Blog Hop yet be sure to check out my posts:
Saturday here>>> Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 1
Sunday here>>>> Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 2

I can't speak for the rest of the blogs that participated, but my blog candy is open until tonight (May 2, 2011) at 11:59 PM.

Also...don't forget to sign up for your chance(s) to win a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge here>>>> 1000 Followers Celebration This giveaway will be open until this Friday, May 6, 2011 at 11:59 PM.

Good luck to everyone who enters! I will also be announcing the winner of the Gypsy from our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop here tomorrow morning!!!!

Okay...now I am going to ask for your votes! I have entered my Yeti Expedition Everest layout (entry #37) and my Mickey Mouse dog treat jar I made for Max (entry #38) over at Patches of Pink and I would love to have any support you would like to send my way here>>>> Vote for linked up projects at Patches of Pink Voting is only open until Noon EST tomorrow, May 3, 2011. Thank you!

Okay, that is it for right now! I do have a card to share with you, but I do not have the post ready yet and I have something I need to go take care of! I will be back later! Hope you are all having a great start to your week!

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Take 2 - Day 2!!!

2011-05-01T06:00:00.029-04:00

Welcome back for Day 2 our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop! Today the only blogs that you will visit that you already visited yesterday will be Shawn and myself. The rest of the talented ladies joining us today are new to our Disney/Pixar blog hop. I hope you've been enjoying what you've seen so far! You should be arriving here from Kim's blog uscrap2. I came across Kim's blog from a comment she left on my blog during the last Disney/Pixar Blog Hop and I was so happy I found her. She has some great Disney layouts on her blog and I couldn't wait to ask her to join us for this hop! If you just happened to stumbled across my blog and would like to start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start, (my homage to Mary Poppins!) you will need to go to Shawn's blog Crafty Chics Blog.

If you missed Day 1 of our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop you will want to be sure you come back here to my post from yesterday (since the lineup is different) so you will be eligible for the grand prize blog candy which is a Gypsy!!! Marlo of Contain Ya Crafts (creator of the AWESOME Scrap 'n Easel) has generously donated a Gypsy as our grand prize for this weekends blog hop! You will be required to hop both days and find the blogs with the Hidden Mickey (one blog Saturday and a different blog on Sunday) and email Shawn at My Cut Search with the blog names.

Okay, I have 3 projects to share with you today so lets get started! For those of you who don't know...you can have lunch with Remy from Ratatouille at Chefs le France in Epcot. The days and times are very limited so be sure to check with Disney Dining (407-WDW-DINE) when making your ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation). Chef Remy is the smallest Audio-Animatronic that Disney has ever created. My boys had no idea that he was there or that we were doing this and I cannot begin to explain the looks on their faces when she wheeled up to our table and pulled the silver top off the platter revealing Remy! One of the many magical Disney moments that will be in our hearts and memories forever...

Project #1

Recipe

Destinations Cricut cartridge

Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge (Remy)

Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge (grapes)

Creat a Critter Cricut cartridge ("say cheese")

patterned paper from stash

gold paper DCWV

Core'dinations cardstock

Project #2

I found this cute little 3"x3" metal alarm clock on clearance for $1.99 at Hobby Lobby last week! $1.99!!! You know the second I laid my eyes on it that it was screaming "DISNEY" at me and for that price I had to scoop it up!

After cutting some Mickey heads out of vinyl at 1/3" (yep...itty bitty Mickey's!) I just placed them around the rim of the clock and now I have my own custom alarm clock in my crafting area! I love it!!!

Project #3

This project is recycled from a 4lb container of Jelly Belly's from Costco that my husband polished off in a weeks time! I've been wanting something to keep Max's peanut butter treats in for him and I thought this container would be perfect. A little vinyl, the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge and some ribbons and a button and voila!!!

Here is Parker showing Max his new treat jar and Max letting me know behind the camera that HE WANTS ONE OF THOSE TREATS!

Max..."oh I so want one of those"

Max..."ah, maybe I shouldn't"

Max..."OK! OK! You twisted my paw!"

(can you see his tongue licking the cover? lol)

He is a very happy dog with his new treat jar! Did you notice his Mickey head collar?? We are a Disney family!

Now how about some more blog candy?!?!

#1
Donated by my wonderful hubby!

Donated by me!

To be eligible for a chance to win my blog candy you must become a follower if you aren't already and leave ONE comment on this post.

~~You will have until Monday night, May 2, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter for my blog candy.~~ Blog candy closed at 165 comments, winners will be announced later today 5/3/11. I will use Random org to draw the winners in order of prizes listed on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Winners will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

I am the last stop on this blog hop! I hope you've enjoyed yourself and good luck to everyone who entered for any of the blog candy! Don't forget to send Shawn and email at My Cut Search with the names of the two blogs that you found the Hidden Mickey's on!

If you missed yesterday's hop which was a different lineup from today, be sure to check out my post here >>> Disney/Pixar Blog Hop (take 2) Day One.

Also if you haven't already signed up for my 1000 followers giveaway which is a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge be sure to go here for details >>> 1000 Follower Celebration!

ALSO, ALSO... a lot of you seemed to be making comments and asking questions yesterday about our tie-dyed Mickey head T-shirts. I posted a tutorial and pictures on how to make them following our first Disney/Pixar blog hop so if you would like to check that out, please go here>>>> Mickey Head Tie Dyed T-Shirt Tutorial

Thank you for joining us! We will keep you posted on the dates for our next Disney/Pixar Blog Hop! Have a magical day!

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Take 2!

2011-04-30T06:00:00.105-04:00

Welcome to Day 1 of our second go around of the Disney/Pixar Blog Hop! Shawn and I were thrilled with the success of our first hop and we are very excited to be back with all of you again with an even larger group of talented ladies! You should be arriving here from the amazingly talented Kathy of Kathy's Cozies. I am a proud owner of one of her beautiful Cricut Cozies...her workmanship is flawless! If you just happened to stumbled across my blog and would like to start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start, (my homage to Mary Poppins!) you will need to go to Shawn's blog Crafty Chics Blog.

Here is my Expedition Everest layout I created! 2010 was the year that marked Tanner being tall enough to ride Expedition Everest! Parker is not a fan of this ride at all so Daddy took Tanner for his first ride just the two of them. The look on his face is priceless! The second I saw the Campin' Critters cartridge I KNEW I had to have it for the Yeti! So here is my Disney layout done without a single "Disney" cartridge!

(please click on photo to enlarge)

Hard to see the stitching between patterned papers and around the top of the layout without enlarging.

I thought the Liquid Applique gave the Yeti a cool look!

His eyes are a sparkly glowing looking embellishment by Jolee's (thanks Steph!)

Gotta love this Yeti X-ING sign!

How cute is this little raccoon hiding from the Yeti!

I think that the inking and stitching on the photo mats added a lot to the layout.

Recipe

Campin' Critters Cricut Cartridge

K&Company patterned paper

Core'dinations cardstock

Best Occasions Prismatic Paper

Kraft cardstock

DCWV Glitter Stack

White Liquid Applique

Colorbox Inks

All That Bling by Jolee's

Did you notice that I used my new Scrap 'n Easel to display my 2 page layout on for picture taking? I also used it during the creative process of this layout which was fabulous! I loved being able to move my embellishment elements around and place them temporarily with the magnets until I got them exactly where I wanted them before applying adhesive! One other thing worth mentioning is that these pieces I was working with were multi-layered and heavy and the magnets that come with the Scrap 'n Easel held them tight in place on the board! LOVE IT!!!!

Next up is my Pinocchio card! Pinocchio is one of my all time favorite Disney movies and I was so happy to see it released on the Disney Classics Cricut cartridge!

Recipe

Disney Classics Cricut cartridge

Sassafras patterned paper

Core'dinations cardstock

Pink By Design Animated Classics stamps

My Craft Spot Crinkle Ribbon

pop dots

Don't forget that Marlo of Contain Ya Crafts has generously donated a Gypsy as our grand prize for this weekends blog hop! You will be required to hop both days and find the blogs with the Hidden Mickey (one blog Saturday and a different blog on Sunday) and email Shawn at My Cut Search with the blog names.

How about some blog candy???

Thank you to Sarah at Pink by Design for donating!

Beautiful hand dyed crinkle ribbon donated by Kimberly at My Craft Spot

Donated by ME!

Mickey birthday Cuttlebug embossing folder

To be eligible for a chance to win my blog candy you must become a follower if you aren't already and leave ONE comment on this post.

~~You will have until Monday night, May 2, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter for my blog candy.~~ Blog candy closed at 175 comments. Winners will be announced later today 5/3/11. I will use Random org to draw the winners in order of prizes listed on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Winners will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for more blog candy chances from me! Tomorrow my blog candy will include a Disney Cricut cartridge! Not to be overlooked that Marlo of Contain Ya Crafts has generously donated a Gypsy as our grand prize for this weekends blog hop! You will be required to hop BOTH DAYS and find the blog with the Hidden Mickey (one blog Saturday and a different blog on Sunday).

RULES FOR GYPSY GRAND PRIZE GIVE-A-WAY:

Make sure to stop by all of the blogs on both days of the hop for your chance to win a Gypsy donated by ContainYa Crafts, maker of Scrap 'n Tote & Scrap 'n Easel. There will be two blogs, one on each day of the hop, who will have a special "Hidden Mickey" in their post. To enter to win the Gypsy, simply send ONE email to My Cut Search (click here) after you've completed both days of the hop and found both Hidden Mickeys. Be sure to tell Shawn in that email which two blogs you found the Hidden Mickey's on!

What is a Hidden Mickey you ask???????
(HINT: Look at my button at the beginning of this post . . . I think I see a Hidden Mickey!!!)

All entries for the grand prize must be in by midnight EST on May 1, 2011. The winner will be announced May 3, 2011 at Contain Ya Crafts , Crafty Chics Blog and right here at Disney Dreamer Designs!

I am the last stop on the hop for today so go get rested up for tomorrow and we will see you then! Have a magical day!

What a wonderful day!!!

2011-04-29T09:36:00.003-04:00

I've hardly slept. Started watching the BBC coverage of the royal wedding just before 3 AM EST. Switched over to NBC at 4 AM EST and have only taken a break from coverage long enough to take the boys to school! What a beautiful event! I couldn't get over how calm and relaxed they both looked and how what an absolutely gorgeous couple they are! HER DRESS!!! Wow is all I can say! One of my favorite parts was when Kate was walking up the aisle with William's back to her and just before she got up to the alter, Harry turned around to sneak a peak and got the biggest smile and turned back and whispered something to William. I'm sure it was something to like..."wow, wait til you see her!" Here's to the beginning of their happily ever after!

The next thing making me smile and happy today is....

MY E2 IS "OUT FOR DELIVERY"!!!!!!

Now, the only thing bad about this is that our UPS man doesn't normally get here until mid to late afternoon...and patience is not one of my virtues! I'm hoping it's a light delivery day and he will be here early! :) A girl can dream can't she!?!?

I am working on getting pictures of my projects and the blog write ups done for our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop starting tomorrow. But in the meantime I have a card to share with you that I made yesterday for my friend Stephanie's daughter, Maggie.

Miss Maggie is having her tonsils out this morning. Actually....she is probably already in the recovery room as I type this. I'm sure she was a trooper! She's a pretty tough girl! I am going to take this card with a box of popsicles over to her later today as a sweet little recovery treat for her.

The popsicle is cut from Doodlecharms at 5" from Colorbok Pearlescent paper and Kraft cardstock. I used my (NEW!!!! So happy to have it now!) Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder on the sticks and some Stickles and ink to give the popsicle some sparkle and dimension. The background paper is SEI. The ribbon is crinkle ribbon from My Craft Spot, topped off with a button by Spare Parts (which was in a box of goodies I recently won from Deborah's blog Cricut Project of the Day!) and a small piece of Twinery Baker's Twine!

I am entering this card in the polka dot challenge at The Paper Variety.
How do you like my new easel? I have been searching high and low for one of these flower frog thingies that so many card makers seem to be using to display their work on for pictures.

I had seriously never heard of one of these things! My friend Kaye from Yesterday's Tomorrow 2011 (whom by the way is participating in our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop this weekend and will NOT tell me what her project is, EVEN THOUGH I had to cut her Mickey heads out in various sizes for her to complete her project!!) is the one who told me what this was called and what it was actually made for. Learn something new every day! Anyways....since I am still on my quest to find a flower frog, I ran across the easel in my card picture at Hobby Lobby earlier this week and scooped it up!

Well...since I am forced to stay home and wait for the UPS driver today it looks like I just might get some crafty stuff done. I SHOULD clean my house, but since the weekend is upon us....it can wait! :) Hope you all have a fabulous Friday and don't forget to come back tomorrow for....

My E2 is on its way from Ohio to Michigan!!!

2011-04-28T19:51:00.000-04:00

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

date time location activity
4/28/2011 6:42 PM PONTIAC MI US IN TRANSIT TO
4/28/2011 6:41 PM MAUMEE OH US DEPARTURE SCAN
4/28/2011 1:04 PM MAUMEE OH US ORIGIN SCAN
4/26/2011 9:27 AM US BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

DOING THE HAPPY DANCE!!!!

OMGoodness!!!!!! LOOK!

2011-04-28T14:26:00.001-04:00

I just for the heck of it went into my billing receipt from HSN to check the shipping status of my E2 and OMGoodness!!!! It is in Ohio!!! I AM IN MICHIGAN!!!

UPS delivery details
date time location activity

4/28/2011 1:04 PM MAUMEE OH US ORIGIN SCAN

4/26/2011 9:27 AM US BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

I didn't expect it to be here until NEXT Thursday! I certainly don't think it will take them a week to get it from Ohio to Michigan! At least I don't hope so! Ooooooo.....it would be so awesome if it was delivered tomorrow! A royal wedding AND my new E2 all in one day????

So excited, just had to share! I am thinking that the kids can survive at school tomorrow without popcorn...I need to stay home for the UPS man!!!!!!!

Can't leave without a Mickey balloon!

2011-04-28T13:28:00.000-04:00

Happy day before the royal wedding day! I will be up bright and early watching...how about you?

I just wanted to share a quick and easy layout I did awhile back. I didn't even keep any of the details on paper, or size of cuts or anything so I am sorry about that. The yellow plastic Mickey head is the weight that they put on the end of the balloon string. We always save them!

Tanner always has to have a Mickey balloon each and every trip. They seem to become more and more expensive every trip too! At least they continually change them up and add new designs and features to them. Our last trip the summer of 2010 he got one that had a color changing light inside of it! Super cool looking! This is one of the other reasons I'm glad we drive from home for our Disney vacations. He would be devistated if we couldn't bring the balloon home and you can't take them on the airplane. Here's a little helpful tip too...if you do drive, you can take the balloon home and then add helium to it as it starts to deflate! At the cost of these little treasures it's nice to make them last as long as possible! That's what we do!

I have had some free time this morning without any errands to run so I have been working on a couple of cards for some upcoming events. I should be able to share at least one of them with you tomorrow. I can't post them until after they are given to the people I'm making them for since they all visit my blog!

I also need to finish taking pictures of my projects and blog candy so I can get my posts ready for the big Disney/Pixar Blog Hop this weekend! Hope you've marked your calendars for it! It is going to be F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!

Are you one of the winners???

2011-04-26T12:34:00.000-04:00

Just finished using random org to pick the winners from the 3 blog hops over the weekend! Are you one of the winners?

First up was the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop. There were 50 eligible comments for the drawing. Using Random Org this was the winning number:

Comment #31 belongs to...

shersl84bed said...

Melissa your cards are so cute. Love that frog saying.. I froggot. I will have to use that some time, very cute. Smiles Sher

Congratulations Sher! You have won the awesome CTMH tweezers! You are going to {{{heart}}} them!

*******

Next up was the Keeping the Peace Blog Hop. There were 38 eligible comments for the drawing. Using Random Org this was the winning number:

#1!!! Can you believe it? You don't see that come up often! Comment #1 belongs to....

abusybee - DoubleClick Connections said...

Cute card! Great button!

Congratulations abusybee! You have won the Peace assortment of pins! Would love to see if you use these to create something!

*******

Last, but certainly not least was the Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop! There were 113 eligible comments for the drawing. Using Random Org this was the winning number:

Well would you look at that!!!!!! Who does comment #35 belong to???? Well....comment #35 belongs to none other than the most-loyal-blog-comment-leaver (yes...her official title!) and one of the sweetest ladies that I have had the honor to get to know in this crazy crafting community.... comment #35 belongs to (drum roll please)....

Sandy from Ukiah said...

Oh how could I not stop and see what you were doing on your blog hop... so wishing I could join the fun... was going to clean my poor house today, but Brent asked me last night if I would take him to SR today... how could I say NO.. know you are going to be having so much fun... hugs Sandy

CONGRATULATIONS Sandy! You have now won blog candy from the "luckiest lady in the world"!!!! (Sandy's comment not mine!) Wahooo!!! You have won Emma's Color Me Happy stamp set! Okay ladies, please email me your snail mail addresses (melissaallore at hotmail dot com) ASAP. Please put the name of the blog hop you won from in the subject line of your email. You will have one week to claim your prizes!

Thanks to everyone for playing along and don't forget about the HUGE Disney/Pixar Blog Hop this weekend!!!!

Your chance to win a Scrap n Easel!

2011-04-26T07:20:00.001-04:00

Head over to Lala's World for a chance to win a Scrap n Easel!

I still need to do my review on my Scrap n Easel, but I will tell you....I took it to my weekend crop two weeks ago and I LOVE IT!!!! More details to come soon....

I will be back later to announce the winner of the blog hops candy!

E2 LIVE!!!

2011-04-26T00:01:00.001-04:00

I already ordered my Expression 2 online a couple hours ago! It will be here on May 5th!!!! Wahooooo!!!!

Thank you Jim, I love you!!!!

Don't hate me because I'm a winner...AGAIN!

2011-04-25T19:57:00.000-04:00

Look at this ever so pretty in pink tool kit I won on Cathie's blog from the Earth Day it's my Birthday Blog Hop!!!!

I think I need to go buy a lottery ticket or two!

Ummmmm....they say that bad things usually happen in 3's. I wonder if good things can too?!?! I would love win number 3 for the day to be an Expression 2!!! Bring it on!

Sharing a giveaway!

2011-04-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

Check out this fabulous giveaway! >>> Sherrie Scraps

My Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop card (entry #30) is also up for vote over at Patches of Pink if you'd like to stop by and check it out! Voting ends tomorrow at noon EST. Thank you!

Less than 7 1/2 hours til the E2 debut!!!!!

Nothing like a hot dog from Casey's!!!

2011-04-25T09:45:00.002-04:00

We love a good hot dog from Casey's on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom! I'm excited to head back to try their new menu. I guess they've added a Chicago style dog and one called a Barbeque Slaw Dog which is the one I'm all about trying!!

Super simple layout of Casey's. Both pieces of patterned paper are from my stash and the "PLAY BALL" and bat were both cut from the Sports Mania Cricut cartridge. I've been in search of the wood grain Tim Holtz embossing folder which I want to use on the bat to give it some character. Once I get my hands on that folder, the bat will be coming off the page and getting a little makeover! ...and now that I'm really looking at this page I think that the "PLAY BALL" might need a little something too...hmmm....maybe a little white pen stitching around the edges of the letters. There may have to be a take 2 on this one!

I'm getting excited for our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop this weekend so I wanted to share some Disney layouts this week to build up to it! Thanks for stopping by!

Sports Mania

I just won an exclusive Cricut cartridge!!! (are you reading this Sandy? XOXO)

2011-04-25T07:48:00.001-04:00

So I finished up my blog post for this morning and then I started going through my Blogger roll and catching up on some of my blogs before I had to wake the boys up for school..............I stroll by Jenny's blog and find out that.....

I WON her Birthday Challenge!!!! What did I win you ask?????? LOOK!!!!!

I had a good feeling about this one from the day I posted it because my linked up project was project #13! #13 is my lucky number and boy oh boy was it lucky for me this time! I am not a Circle member and have no plans of becoming one, so something like this is the only way I would ever be able to get this cartridge! Thank you Jenny!!! I just looked through a list of some of the cute word art on this cartridge yesterday and I can't wait to cut myself a bug head out of vinyl!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH JENNY!

Looks like it is going to be a three post day today since this is already number 2 and I have a simple Disney World layout that I want to share with you later.

Down to less than 17 hours til the E2 debuts!!!

Don't forget that you still have time to enter these blog candy giveaways (til tonight 4/25/11 11:59 PM EST):

Disney Easter Egg Hop

Keeping the Peace Blog Hop

Toadally Frog Blog Hop

AND

For your chance to win a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge (open until May 6th 11:59 PM EST)

1000 followers celebration

Time to finish getting the boys ready for school! I will be back later with that layout post!

Let the countdown begin!

2011-04-25T06:00:00.003-04:00

T-minus 18 hours and counting until my fingers are dialing into HSN to order my new Cricut Expression 2!!!!

I was actually thinking about waiting until all of the bugs were worked out...or maybe even for the price to drop, but I have had my friend Diane's Expression for over 2 1/2 months now. She was nice enough to let me keep hers to use after mine went haywire with the USB port and wouldn't communicate with my Gypsy. I think it's time to let her have her's back. Thank you so much Diane!!! I will still need to pick up an Expression or have Kaye's husband take a look at my old one to see if he can repair the USB port so I can use it with my SCAL.

Don't forget to enter for all the giveaways I have going on right now! You have until 11:59 PM EST tonight (the same time I will be getting ready to DIAL THE PHONE!!!) to leave a comment on these following posts to be included in the chance to win:

Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop

Keeping the Peace Blog Hop

Toadally Frog Blog Hop

I also have a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge giveaway going on to celebrate 1000 followers! You have multiple chances to enter for that up until Friday, May 6th here>>> 1000 Followers Celebration

AND

I can't let you leave without reminding you about our Take 2 Disney/Pixar Blog Hop taking place this weekend with HUGE prizes! I'm talking HUGE! A Gypsy, Scrap n Tote, Scrap n Easel, Cricut cartridges, stamp sets, gift certificates....the list goes on an one! I promise that you will not want to miss out on this on! Tell all your scrappy and crafty friends to come out and hop along with us!

Disney Easter Egg Hop

2011-04-23T03:01:00.014-04:00

Welcome to the Disney Easter Egg Hop! I would like to thank Monica and Sandra for letting me be part of this fun, Disney blog hop! You should be arriving from the super talented Lauren at Lauren's Creative . If you just happened to come across my blog and would like to start back at the beginning of the hop, please head to Monica's Blog Simply Cricutting.

If you are looking for the Keeping the Peace Blog Hop click here >>> Keeping the Peace

If you are looking for the Toadally Frog Blog Hop click here>>> Toadally Frog Blog Hop

Rabbit was cut at 5" from the Pooh & Friends Cricut cartridge. I didn't use his traditional colors for him, instead I used pink and lavender Colorbok pearlescent paper. The wheelbarrow is also from Pooh & Friends cut at 2" and given a metal look with Martha Stewart glitter markers. The eggs are cut at 1" from Doodlecharms and embossed with the borders folders from Cuttlebug before using Stickles. The stamped sentiment is by Studio G and the background paper is DCWV.

Now for the blog candy! This set of My Creative Time stamps generously donated by the lovely Emma is perfect for all your Easter cards and layouts!

To be eligible for a chance to win this blog candy:

1. Please leave me only ONE comment on this post.
2. You must become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.

~~You will have until Monday night, April 25, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter~~. Entries closed at 113 comments. Will draw winner and post tomorrow. I will use Random org to draw the winners on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

Monica will also be having a grand prize giveaway on her blog. She will be giving away a Celebrate with Flourish Cricut Lite cartridge to one lucky winner that leaves a comment on each of the blogs participating in the hop! Good luck to everyone who plays along!

I also have a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge up for grabs here>>> 1000 Followers Blog Candy

Your next stop on the Disney Easter Egg hop is Scraps 2 Treasure. Head on over to there to check out her project! Thanks for visiting and have a magical day!

Don't forget about take 2 of our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop coming up next weekend! Shawn and I are very excited to be hosting a two day hop this time featuring a total of 22 blogs (12 stops each day including our own). There are going to be some AMAZING prizes including a Gypsy, a Scrap N Tote, Scrap N Easel, cartridges and MUCH more so be sure to mark your calendars and come back to hop with us....Disney style!

Keeping the Peace Blog Hop!

2011-04-23T01:30:00.010-04:00

Welcome to the Keeping the Peace Blog Hop and a big "thank you" to Adri for inviting me to join! If you have arrived from our hostess Adri's blog then you are in the right place!

If you are looking for the Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop please click here>>> Disney Easter Egg Hop

If you are looking for the Toadally Frog Blog Hop please click here>>>> Toadally Frog Blog Hop

The Planet Earth is an SVG file from Free SVG's Blog that I cut at 5 1/4" using SCAL. I inked around the edges to give it a little definition. The background paper is DCWV. The "Peace on Earth" was a button that I removed the pin from and used a pop dot on the back of that I found at Wal-Mart (look below because you could win your own set!) and the beautiful ribbon is hand dyed crinkle ribbon from Kimberly's My Craft Spot.

Blog candy for this hop is a set of the pins that I used for this card! I have plans for all of the other ones to use on future cards. The recycle pins will go great with some Wall-E cuts!

To be eligible for a chance to win the blog candy:

1. Please leave me ONE comment on this post.

2. You must become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.

~~You will have until Monday night, April 25, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter.~~ Entries for giveaway closed at 38. Will draw and post winner 4/26. I will use Random org to draw the winners on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

I also have a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge up for grabs here >>> 1000 Followers Blog Candy

Your next stop on the hop is Asheyna. Please head on over to her blog, Musings of a Scattered Mind and check out her project!

Toadally Frog Blog Hop!

2011-04-23T00:00:00.013-04:00

Welcome to the Toadally Frog Blog Hop! If you made your way here from the sweet Mistyrose's blog then you are in the right place! If you just happened to stop by my blog and would like to start from the beginning of the Toadally Frog Blog Hop then please head back to Karel's blog >>> Karel J Creations

If you are looking for the Keeping the Peace Blog Hop click here >>> Keeping the Peace

If you are looking for the Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop click here>>> Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop

When I was working on the card for this hop I found this plaid paper that I wanted to use by K&Company. Once I got the frog cut out I accidentally flipped it over to discover how it looked on the reverse side of the two sided paper and I was instantly torn between the two! Which side should I use??? I really liked them both! The patchwork print looked so cute as the frog which was funny because if it would have cut out on any other section of that paper, I don't think I would have liked it as much. I decided to keep the patchwork cut for one card and cut another out of the plaid and make two cards!

Paper is by K&Company. The frog is cut from Paisley Cricut cartridge at 5". The crinkle ribbon is by Kimberly at My Craft Spot. The button is from my stash and the rick-rak is by Wrights. The cool dimensional bling stickers that I used from the eyes were given to me by my friend Steph who thought they would be perfect and she was right! They are All That Bling by Jolee's and she found them at Target. Thanks Steph! The stamped sentiment on this card is from the Be Mine set of Pink By Design stamps (which has FREE shipping this weekend!). Oh...I almost froggot (hee hee), I used my Uni-ball Signo white pen to go around the outside edges of the froggie.

Now...here is the backside of the first frog I cut out! See why I just had to use it? I really like how the patterned lined up on the frog cut even though it wasn't planned that way. The products and cuts for this card were the same as the first card, except for the stamped sentiment on this one is from My Pink Stamper and I used some baker's twine from The Twinery.

I also wanted to share the card I made for my guest designer day on Karel's blog since things got a little messed up with the day it originally got posted. The Frog was cut from the Boys Will Be Boys Cricut cartridge at 4 1/4" from Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock. I used the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder to give him some dimension and then inked him up a bit with some Starlite Silver Dew Drop ink. The pink was a piece of banner cut from Country Life Cricut cartridge that was left over from another project and the background patterned paper is by K&Company. I used My Pink Stampers stamps for the "Sorry, I froggot." sentiment. I just used a left over piece of Colorbok Pearlescent paper to cut a small strip and then wrapped it around my stylus to give the froggy a bug catching tongue!

Okay, I just got my first pair of Close to My Heart tweezers and I {{{HEART}}} them! I have been a diehard Mrs. Grossman tweezers gal since I started scrapbooking. I have two pairs of them, but I can't find them in any stores anymore! These tweezers are new from CTMH so I thought I would give them a try and they are fabulous! I love them so much that I bought another set to share with one of my lucky followers! So be sure to get in on this blog candy! I plan on ordering a few more pairs of these the next time I place a CTMH order!

To be eligible for a chance to win the blog candy:
1. Please leave me ONE comment on this post.
2. You must become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.

~~You will have until Monday, April 25, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter~~. Entries for giveaway closed at 50 comments. Winner will be drawn and posted 4/26 I will use Random org to draw the winners on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

I also have a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge up for grabs here >>> 1000 Followers Blog Candy

Now you need to take a big HOP to your next stop which is Patti! Be sure to head over to Patti's blog, Short 'N Scrappy and leave her some love!

Don't forget about take 2 of our Disney/Pixar Blog Hop coming up next weekend! Shawn and I are very excited to be hosting a two day hop this time featuring a total of 22 blogs (12 stops each day). There are going to be some AMAZING prizes including a Gypsy, a Scrap N Tote, Scrap N Easel, cartridges and MUCH more so be sure to mark your calendars and come back to hop with us....Disney style!

1000 Followers Blog Candy!

2011-04-22T12:46:00.003-04:00

This giveaway is now CLOSED.

I want to thank all of you for helping me reach the 1000 followers milestone! When I started my blog almost 3 years ago, I never in a million years dreamed I would have this many followers looking at my creations and liking what I do. I appreciate all of the sweet comments that you leave and the friendships that I have made.

As a token of my appreciation I would like to offer up a Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge. This is one of those cartridges that I didn't really think I needed but once I really looked at it I realized that there were a lot of great cuts and really cute word phrases. Best of all, it has a great quirky font on it which I have grown to love and use often!

I have 4 blog hops that I am participating in within the next week so I am going to leave this blog candy open for awhile. I am also going to give you multiple chances to win. Of course this candy is for my followers so the one and only requirement that you must follow to be included would to be a follower. So if you aren't already a follower, but sure to become one. I promise you won't be sorry, there is some great blog hop candy to be had around here in the coming weeks!

For chances to win (please leave a separate comment post for each entry):

~~1. Leave a comment if you are a follower (or if you become a new follower).~~
~~2. Leave a comment telling me what you would use this cartridge for.~~
~~3. Post about this giveaway on your blog and post a link back to it.~~
~~4. Add my blog button to your blog sidebar.~~
~~5. Post about this giveaway on FB and post a link about it.~~
~~6. Come back for the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop and leave a comment on that post and then one on this post letting me know you did.~~ (MUST be done by Monday, March 25th to qualify)
~~7. Come back for the Keeping the Peace Blog Hop and leave a comment on that post and then one on this post letting me know you did.~~ (MUST be done by Monday, March 25th to qualify)
~~8. Come back for the Disney Easter Egg Blog Hop and leave a comment on that post and then one on this post letting me know you did so.~~ ~~(MUST be done by Monday, March 25th to qualify)~~
9. Come back next weekend for the Take 2 Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 1 and leave a comment on that post and then one on this post letting me know you did so. (MUST be done between April 1st & May 2nd to qualify)
10. Come back next weekend for the Take 2 Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Day 2 and leave a comment on that post and then one on this post letting me know you did so. (MUST be done between April 1st & May 2nd to qualify)

There you go! There are 10 7 chances for each of you to win! You can do as many or as few as you would like! Good luck! I will close the entries for this blog candy on Friday, May 6th at 11:59 PM EST and use Random Org to pick a winner on Saturday, May 7, 2011.

This giveaway now closed

Hopping like crazy this weekend!

2011-04-22T07:23:00.000-04:00

Good morning! Just wanted to give you all a little reminder that I am participating in THREE hops this weekend. Ummm...yeah...I kind of over extended myself. Nothing new for me! lol I didn't realize until after I had said "yes" that they were all on the same weekend, let alone that it was Easter Weekend. It's okay though. I was able to finish projects for all of them and last night my sweet hubby was able to talk me through some trouble shooting and steps via Skype to figure out what was wrong with the computer so I could upload and edit pictures again. I am pretty sure it is all working properly again so today I just need to get photos of my projects as well as the BLOG CANDY taken and get posts written up to go along with them. The first of the three blog hops will be going live at midnight so you will be able to start hopping then if you'd like!

I also need to get up a post for my 1000 followers blog candy! Hopefully I will get to that before tomorrow when the hops start. If not, the post for that will definitely be going up at the beginning of next week. Thanks once again to each and every one of you for helping me reach that milestone!

Be sure to come back and HOP, HOP, HOP!

Wahooooo 1000 Followers!

2011-04-21T10:15:00.000-04:00

I have hit the 1000 followers mark!!! Thank you to everyone who supports my blog and leaves me such wonderful comments! I am still trying to figure out my computer issue and therefore cannot share any pictures right now, but stay tuned for some blog candy to celebrate hitting the 1000 followers mark!

Did someone say chocolate???

2011-04-20T14:42:00.000-04:00

Take a look at this yummy giveaway! My boys will be drooling over this! Utah Truffles have given Sherbet Blossom a big box of chocolate to give away to one of their lucky followers! So head on over for your chance to win and maybe...just maybe get lucky enough to have these delivered to your home!

Go here to enter>>> Utah Truffles giveaway at Sherbet Blossom's Blog!

Good luck!

Vote for me!!!!

2011-04-19T14:48:00.004-04:00

Okay....it is voting time over on Karel's blog for our design team submissions for a frog or toad project. Please go vote for the beautiful mosaic tile vase we made! Tell everyone you know to vote me! Then tell them to tell everyone they know to vote for me! Hee hee It is project #9 for Melissa A. on the sidebar of Karel's blog.

Did I happen to mention the HUGE amount of time I spent on this project and how I nearly ruined my fingernails for life trying to scrap grout from the itsty bitsy tiles??? There has to be some kind of payoff for that! lol

Vote here>>> Karel J Creations

You will see the projects and the name of the person who made it...then you must pick the number of the project you want to vote to and go completely over to the right hand sidebar directly under where Karel has all of her blog hop buttons listed you will see "vote for your favorite toadally frogs project". That is where you click on the circle next to "nine" and then scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on "vote". I know that it is a little confusing not having it all in one place. I'm not sure why she does it this way. Thank you for all being so persistent!

#9 is OH SO FINE!

I'm still alive!

2011-04-18T20:33:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that I haven't posted since last week. Life has been busy plus I'm having computer issues! For some reason I cannot access my hard drive on the main computer which is where I have pictures of the projects that I have ready to post. Tonight I am battling a bit of a head cold which is probably from this CRAZY weather we've been having! It SNOWED yesterday and today! HELLLLOOOOOOOOO Mother Nature...it is SPRING! I am getting ready to take some NyQuil and hopefull drift off into dreamland.

I also wanted to take a minute to acknowledge all of the lovely blog awards that so many of you have been leaving for me. Please do not be offended that I haven't posted about them. I am so far behind on blog awards because they take so much time to accept them properly. I honestly have not had the time to gather the people I would like to pass them onto and make sure I have all the links and everything set up properly. I truly appreciate all of your kindness and the fact that you love my blog enough to acknowledge all of the work I put into it. So for those of you who have left a little something on your blog for me or left a comment here about it.... THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

Once I figure out the problem with the computer I will be posting something. If I can't figure out what the problem is within the next couple of days I am going to be forced to upload some pictures to my laptop (at least temporarily) because I have THREE blog hops I'm participating in this weekend and need to get pictures taken of my projects as well as the blog candy that I will have up for grabs!

Hope everyone is good and that you haven't missed me too much! :)

Flamingo Design Team Blog Challenge Submission

2011-04-15T10:30:00.005-04:00

Hello! When we worked on the vase for the auction I knew it would be a good submission for the frog/toad challenge over at Karel's blog for our monthly design team submission. Here is the finished mosiac tiled frog vase...the princess frog is on the other side! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Thursday Funny!

2011-04-14T12:13:00.001-04:00

My friend Kaye over at Yesterday's Tomorrow 2011 just emailed me this comic and between emails, voicemails, checking my blogger roll, Skyp'ing with my hubby, typing things up for the PTO meeting tonight, proofreading my son's book report, checking my FB and preparing a blog post....I checked my email and read it....laughed about it....and am now posting it here on my blog!

It is a vicious, vicious cycle my friends!!!!

The Allore Family wishes you a Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-13T17:22:00.000-04:00

Please pause music on playlist above before clicking play on the video card. Enjoy!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Look what I got!!!

2011-04-13T05:54:00.001-04:00

Look what my mom had delivered to my house yesterday!!!

The last weekend crop I went to in January, there were two ladies who showed up with these and I fell in love! It was so cool to see them rolling in with all their cropping stuff loaded in this cart. Mind you....there is no way in H E double hockey sticks that the amount of stuff I take to a weekend crop is going to fit inside this wagon, but it sure is going to make the numerous trips from the van to the conference room a lot easier!

They were nice enough to let some of us ladies check out their wagon to see how easy it was to maneuver and to fold and unfold it. Let me tell you...like a dream!

I hadn't thought about it again since then, but my mom did!!! She was there that weekend of the crop and saw this awesome wagon and she said the other day she was on Kmart.com and saw it was on sale and decided that I needed it! I knew she had something being delivered to me because she told me to be on the lookout, but I had no clue that this is what it was going to be! Imagine my surprise and happy face when the UPS man rang my doorbell last night! THANK YOU MOM!!!! Just in time for the weekend!

The really super cool thing is that this is going to come in soooooo handy for our Disney trips too! Half the time we are using the big double stroller to load all of our stuff up in to take to our room! For those of you who have stayed on Disney property and drive their own vehichle, you know what a trek it can be from the parking lot to some of the buildings! Not going to be an issue any more now that we have this!

If anybody is interested in checking it out you can

click here >>> Utility Wagon

Have a wonderful day!

Want to win a Cricut Cake Machine?

2011-04-12T21:27:00.000-04:00

Go visit my friend Mistyrose for a chance!

Sweet Magnolia Rose

Pinwheel Flower Card

2011-04-12T05:16:00.003-04:00

Not a single Cricut cut on this card! I simply measured out a 3 in square out of some Bo Bunny paper scraps I had and hand cut it to make the pinwheel flower. I just cut in from the 4 corners of the square, folded them in and glued them to the center. I did some trimming down to give it this shape after all of the pieces were adhered to the center. I thought it would be fun to use some of the pipe cleaners to give the card some texture. I found this cute butterfly embellishment at the Dollar Tree! The patterned paper is from my scrap pile and sentiment stamp is by Studio G. I couldn't tell you who the brad is by...it was mixed in with a jungle of other brads, eyelets and gems!

I made this for the So Saturday Anything Spring Challenge at Card Creations & More by C. I am also entering this in the brad challenge over at Frosted Designs this week.

Today is our niece Britany's 25th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIT!!! Wow, it seems like yesterday when they brought her home from the hospital. Not to mention that it feels like yesterday when my hubby took me to Reno and Lake Tahoe to celebrate MY 25th birthday! Yikes...time sure does fly.

Winner of Gloria's Bday Bash Blog Candy is........

2011-04-11T17:20:00.000-04:00

There were a total of 158 valid comments for the blog candy which was this...

and a small package of these...

I used Random Org and entered 158 and it came up with this...

Who does comment #34 belong to???

*

*

*

*

*

#34 belongs to none other than.....

Our blog hop hostess AND birthday girl...

Gloria!!!

34 Gloria (Disneynut4life22) said...

Your JIMINY CRICKET is very handsome! Love your card and the way your buttons work with so well. Beautiful card Melissa:-)

How cool is that? Congratulations Gloria! I will need your mailing address. Please PM it to me on FB!

I'm the lead pink flamingo today!

2011-04-11T13:17:00.000-04:00

***************

Good morning! Today I am the guest designer over at Karel's blog One By One the Flamingos are Stealing my Sanity.

This card was one of a set of 10 that I made as a donation to our school auction that took place at the end of March. I'm happy to say that not only did the lot of cards make a nice bit of money, but my crafty friend Kim is the one who won them which was a nice little bonus!

The Frog was cut from the Boys Will be Boys Cricut cartridge at 4 1/4" from Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock. I used the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder to give him some dimension and then inked him up a bit with some Starlite Silver Dew Drop ink. The pink was a piece of banner cut from Country Life Cricut cartridge that was left over from another project and the background patterned paper is by K&Company. I used My Pink Stampers stamps for the "Sorry, I froggot." sentiment. I just used a left over piece of Colorbok Pearlescent paper to cut a small strip and then wrapped it around my stylus to give the froggy a bug catching tongue!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Sad to say that we have to head back to reality today. Back to crazy daily and weekly jam packed schedules for the boys and I at school...and hubby for work. Time to start counting down the days again. Next stop....summer vacation!

Today is D-Day (dress day! lol) for Parker's teacher! Cannot wait to see him all decked out in his dress and all the accessories that go with it! I will be back later to use Random Org to pick a winner for the weekend blog hop candy!

Still hopping!

2011-04-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

Still time to participate in the big birthday hop! There are lots of great prizes up for grabs! You can either scroll down to my Friday post or click on the link below...

Gloria's Birthday Bash Hop!

If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, head on over to the birthday girl's blog!

Gloria's Goofy Craft Spot

Hope everyone is having a beautiful Sunday! It is going to be near 80 degrees here today (I will believe it when I see it...or FEEL it!), but we have to take Jim back to the airport today so it is a sad one for us. I will check in with you guys tomorrow. I think I might be switching guest designer days with one of my fellow Pink Flamingo girls which means my project for April will be posted tomorrow so stay tuned.

Gloria's Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

2011-04-08T05:39:00.004-04:00

Welcome to Gloria's Birthday Blog Hop! First off I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to our fabulous hostess Gloria! I hope that all of your wishes come true and that you have a fabulous birthday weekend! Thank you so much for asking me to be part of your special hop! You should be arriving from Megan's blog MC2 Productions. If you just happened to come across my blog and would like to start back at the beginning of the hop, please go to to the birthday girl's blog Gloria's Goofy Craft Spot!

My absolute favorite thing about the new Disney Classics Cricut cartridge is that I can FINALLY CUT A JIMINY CRICKET!!! Look how handsome he is all decked out in his top hat and tails!

I used a combination of Core'dinations and Colorbok Pearlescent papers to cut Mr. Jiminy Cricket at 5". The background patterned paper is from Bungle Jungle stack by Sassafras (which I LOVE). The yellow buttons were from my stash and the blue organza ribbon is by Offray.

Now for the blog candy! I just had to share some Disney goodies since Gloria and I share a love of all things Disney! This includes a magnetic note pad, nylon tote bag and some birthday embellishments. I will also be including a small package of the awesome Action Wobbles and maybe some other surprise goodies!

To be eligible for a chance to win the blog candy, you must become a follower if you aren't already and leave one comment. ~~You will have until Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter.~~ I will use Random org to draw the winners on Monday, April 11, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

BLOG CANDY NOW CLOSED AT 158 COMMENTS 4/10/11 11:59 PM EST. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED.

You will have all weekend to complete this blog hop and there is some fabulous blog candy up for grabs so be sure to stop by each and every blog and leave a comment!

Now I am honored to be sending you off to the super talented and always inspiring Emma of Creative Time for Me. Please stop by and show her some blog love, you won't be sorry! I just got a sneak peak of her layout and I love it!

Feeling the love with Kristal!

2011-04-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

Head on over to my friend Kristal's blog Getting Cricky with K. Andrew! Her blog is always amazingly inspiring and creative! Today she is having a linking party to share the love of all our blogs! Head on over and become a follower of hers if you aren't already. Then link up and start visiting the other talented bloggers who have already linked! Enjoy!

My husband is spoiling me! AND I LOVE IT!

2011-04-07T20:29:00.002-04:00

*******

We just had a very nice dinner out as a family at our favorite restaurant and then we headed over to Michaels and my fabulous husband bought me this....

AND THIS!!!!!

I think he might be feeling a little guilty for being gone so much lately! I LOVE GUILT! lol ...but I love my hubby even more! Thanks babe!

One of my favorite peeps!

2011-04-07T11:03:00.007-04:00

When I found this cut file on Cafe Expressions I knew I had to use it to go with the stamp I had found at M's! How cute are they??

The bunnies were cut from Colorbok pearlescent paper and I used a black Marvy liquid applique pen for the eyes and noses. The printed papers are by DCWV and I used pop dots behind the bunnies. The stamp is by Studio G.

I am submitting this for the Easter card challenge over at ABC DT Challenge Blog , the Cricut Cardz Easter Challenge and the new challenge blog A La Card Monkey for their nature challenge (you can find pink bunnies in nature right? hee hee).

I am also linking up at Patches of Pink!

I'm officially 100 days from my 3rd Blogoversary! Just might be cause for a celebration and some blog candy when the day arrives! :)

Cindy is having a party and YOU ARE INVITED!!!

2011-04-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

My good friend Cindy is getting OLD....um....I mean another year older! I have to be careful what I say because I'm just a teensy weensy bit older than her. :) Anyways...she will be participating with us on April 30th for our Disney/Pixar hop and then the next day she is going to keep the party going to celebrate her birthday on her blog!

You should head over there now and become a follower so you are all ready for the fun, games and presents! Plus, she is giving you some extra chances at some of the goodies that are going to be up for grabs if you help her to spread the word.

Click on the link below to start the party with Cindy!

Scrap-tastic Addictions

What would you do with $15 to spend at Joanns?

2011-04-07T05:34:00.001-04:00

If someone gave you $15 to spend on anything or towards anything at Joanns...what do you think you would pick? I could easily spend $1500 at Joanns, but I am sure most of us probably could! lol Diana just passed her 200 follower mark not long ago and is now trying to reach the big 300 mark! As a little incentive and a reward to one lucky follower she is going to be giving away a $15 gift card to Joanns! Not only is she giving away the gift card...she is including a set of 4 handmade cards she made! Just head over her way! Just click here to >>> Become a new follower of DL.Art and leave her a comment letting her know you did and 10 days after she reaches that goal of 300 she will draw a winner! Good luck to all!

You are my sunshine!

2011-04-06T20:07:00.000-04:00

Here is my card I threw together for Jenny's challenge over at Crazy About Cricut. This is another one of those ideas that popped into my head a few weeks back when I was at the store shopping for buttons, ribbons and things to try out with my Chomas Creations engraving tip. I picked up the mirrors to try some stuff with the engraving tip, but I haven't gotten to that yet... I thought that using a mirror in the middle of the ribbon and rick-rak sunrays would be cute with this stamped sentiment by Studio G. What do you think?

The background printed paper is by Me & My Big Ideas and is a leftover scrap from the caterpillar card I posted earlier today. I tried many ways to get a good shot without having my reflection or reflection of anything else and it was impossible so I just went straight on with the camera front and center! :)

Win a cartridge!

2011-04-06T16:42:00.002-04:00

I completely forgot that MM DeZigns was giving away 2 other cartridges on her blog! I was there this weekend and posted, but I couldn't post about it on my blog until after the hop I was participating was over.... so now I can!

You could win this...

or this!

Head over and become a follower and leave a comment. Be sure to let her know that Melissa at Disney Dreamer Designs sent you! Good luck!

Go here>>> MM DeZigns quest for 250 followers!

While you are there be sure to post on this thread as well >>> Push for 250 followers and leave my name as a referral for a chance to win some more blog candy! She is giving away a Seasonal Christmas Village cartridge to someone who was previously a follower as well as a special package to a new follower who refers!

Feeling blue?

2011-04-06T04:38:00.000-04:00

This is another one of those visions I had in my head when I was thinking buttons and ribbons a few weeks back. Tanner helped me pick out the buttons on this one for the caterpillars body as well as his blue googly eyes and blue pipe cleaner antena! He also wanted me to let you know that he will be answering all of your questions regarding his pink piggy creation. I have read through most of the comments with him and he's answered a few of the questions. I just need him to answer the rest and get his post typed up for him. He was grinning ear to ear when he saw how many of you left him comments and questions so thank you for that!

The background paper is by K&Company and the stamped sentiment is Inkadinkado. I am entering this in the "cute as a bug" challenge over at Kimberly's blog My Craft Spot. She not only carries the awesome crinkle ribbon that I gave you a blog hop candy sneak peak of...but she also sells bakers twine which is the prize for this challenge!

Look what my hubby gave me yesterday!!! I have been wanting this cartridge since it was released and can't wait to make some cards and LO's with it!! Oh and my new baker's twine and two new sets of Pink Cricut stamps were delivered on Monday! Now I just need some creating time!

I just cannot believe how fast this week is flying by. Why is it that when you want the week to go quickly it drags and when you are on vacation it flies by??? Murphys law I guess... I wish the weather would be more cooperative and actually act a little more like spring. Hope the weather is nice wherever you are and that you are having a fantabulous week!

Don't forget to stop by MM Dezigns blog and become a follower! Check out my post yesterday about it!
MM Dezigns blog follower drive

MM Dezigns follower drive!

2011-04-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

Head over to MM Dezigns and become a follower! She is trying to get to 250 followers and she's giving both you & I a chance to win some blog candy!!!

Be sure to leave a comment that Melissa at Disney Dreamer Designs sent you because I get points for referrals!

Go here >>> MM Dezigns

Thank you and good luck to both of us!

Hoppy Easter card

2011-04-05T05:43:00.005-04:00

I would be lying if I said that I love the way this card turned out. To be honest, I am less than thrilled with it. I was trying to do something with the negative cut of the egg that I had in my scrap pile from when I made the Thumper card, but I think I started suffering from the not knowing when enough is enough syndrome! I kept adding trying to make it look better when all I think ended up happening was a flop!

"Hoppy Easter" was cut at 3 1/2" from the Celebrate With Flourish Cricut Lite cartridge. I used all scrap paper for this cut. I layered a line of crystal Stickles on top to give it some bling to go along with the Easter egg. The negative cut of the Easter egg is on Core'dinations paper with different shades of Stickles added for the egg and grass decorations. The background patterned paper is DCVW and the ribbon is Offray.

Challenges:

Easter Challenge over at Sugar Sweet Paper Treats

Spring Theme at Throwdown Tuesday

Bling Challenget at Frosted Designs

Voting for my rainbow button card is still open until noon EST today! If you get a chance to stop by and vote I would really appreciate it! Click here>>> Patches of Pink Linking up Challenge

We are enjoying our time with Jim home! Yesterday was a stay in our pajama's day! We've been watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of books and playing a lot of games...just loving our family time! The weather hasn't been too cooperative for park or zoo time. Might go bowling within the next couple days and then off to the IMAX theater on Friday for the release of Born Wild in 3D! Cannot wait to see this! Hope you are all having a great start to your week!

Limited Edition Luau cartridge giveaway!

2011-04-04T23:16:00.000-04:00

Who wouldn't love to own this cartridge?!? I can think of so many Disney related LO's I could use this cartridge on! Polynesian Resort, Kona Cafe, Lilo & Stitch, Tiki Room, Ohana, Aloha Isle, Adventureland, Little Mermaid...the list goes on and on! Haven't seen this one in the stores yet, but Lisa at A Mermaid's Craft is giving one away as blog candy! Go check out her blog >>> A Mermaid's Craft be sure to become a follower and leave a comment! Good luck!

Still time!

2011-04-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

.... to do the bunny hop!

Go here>>>> Made by Jacqueline

April Showers Blog Hop WINNERS!

2011-04-04T11:23:00.002-04:00

Thank you to all those that hopped along with us this past weekend for the April Showers Blog Hop! I so appreciate all the lovely comments you left! Winners for the blog candy were picked via Random Org.

Day 1 blog candy - Set of Hero Arts stamps. There were 67 eligible comments included in the Random Org draw and the winning number is:

which belongs to...

jessica said...

love your card! so bright and fun!

jessica

Day 2 blog candy - Assorted flower embellishments. There were 46 eligible comments included in the Random Org draw and the winning number is:

which belongs to...

Leah said...

What a wonderful card!!! I love the stitching.

Congratulations ladies! I have both of your email addresses so I will be sending you a message shortly. You will have one week to respond and claim your prizes!

Don't forget to come right back here this coming weekend and hop along with me to celebrate Gloria's Birthday!

Voting is up at Patches of Pink linking up challenge today!

(You can click above if you'd like to vote!)

Have a magical day!

Wahoo! The NCM challenge was a success for me!

2011-04-04T05:11:00.004-04:00

I was a winner over at Kleirr's Kreation for her and Tinker Planet's National Craft Month Challenge! I had so much month participating all month long, linking up my creations and ended up winning this AWESOME prize package as well! I have been wanting Simply Charmed and was actually going to order it last week from Oh My Crafts during their sale, but it has been out of stock! Guess that was a good thing! Thank you so much Claire for the fun challenge and for the generous blog candy!

AND...I also won Wendy's 1500 follower celebration blog candy over at her blog Bling Queen! It was a good weekend for me! My husband is home and I'm being showered with awesome blog candy!

Just look at all those goodies!!!! TWO brand new Cricut cartridges that were on my wish list and a set of Emma's stamps that I've been wanting! I will save sweet Sandy from having to make the comment.... I'm so lucky! :) Love you Sandy!

Thanks so much to Claire and Wendy!!!

I will be back a little later to share the winners of the April Showers Blog Hop candy! There will be some special blog candy from China that my sweet hubby brought back that I'm going to be sharing with all of you soon! So stay tuned for that!

I also have two of my cards...the "A little birdie told me" and my rainbow button card entered in the linking challenge over at Patches of Pink today if you'd like to stop by and vote. Thank you!

April Showers Blog Hop Day 2

2011-04-03T00:01:00.009-04:00

April showers bring May flowers! Welcome to day 2 of the Spring Blog Hop! You should be arriving from Leah's Card Designs. If you just happened to come across my blog and would like to start back at the beginning of the hop, please go to Kathryn's blog - Creations with Kathryn.

Both the background patterned paper and the double sided paper used for the flower were DCWV. I cut the circles for the flower from the George Cricut cartridge at 2 1/2" each and then folded in the edges to create the petals, adding a little adhesive to hold them. The button is from my stash and the stamped sentiment is from the My Creative Time Polka Dot Surprise stamp set.

Blog candy today is some fun flower embellishments by Doodlebug, Making Memories and K&Company.

To be eligible for a chance to win the blog candy:

1. Please leave me a comment on this post.
2. Please become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.

~~You will have until tomorrow tonight Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter~~. BLOG CANDY CLOSED AT 46 COMMENTS 4/3/11 11:59 PM EST. WINNER ANNOUNCED SOON. I will use Random org to draw the winners on Monday, April 4, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

Your next stop on the hop is Jen! Head on over to Jen's blog, Scrapping at the McCalley House and check out her project and leave her some blog love!

April Showers Blog Hop - Day 1

2011-04-02T00:01:00.009-04:00

Welcome to Day 1 of the April Showers Blog Hop! You should be arriving from Leah's Card Designs. If you just happened to come upon my blog and would like to start at the beginning of the hop, please go visit Kathryn at Creations with Kathryn.

Today I have a card for you that I created without any Cricut cuts! I've been having fun exploring with buttons and ribbons lately and this is a fun card I came up with! I just used one of my plain white Recollection cards and with my CTMH sponge daubers inked up the background to look like the sky. All the buttons are from my stash... I simply took a pencil and drew the lines for the 6 different shades of the rainbow and then placed a line of glue starting on the outside layer with the red buttons and filled them in. The "You Brighten my day" stamp is by Stampendous.

Now for some blog candy! I have a set of Hero Arts stamps up for grabs!

To be eligible for a chance to win the blog candy:

1. Please leave me a comment on this post.
2. Please become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.

~~You will have until tomorrow night Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter~~. BLOG CANDY CLOSED AT 67 4/3/11 11:59 PM EST...WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON. I will use Random org to draw the winners on Monday, April 4, 2011. Winner will have one week to contact me and claim their prize.

Now it is time for you to head over and visit Jen's blog Scrapping at the McCalley House.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Day 2 of the April Showers Blog Hop!

DISNEY DREAMER DESIGNS

Blog candy winners!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2

Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1

Happy Birthday to me and another Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!!!

Disney~Pixar Link-up Party WINNER!

Disney~Pixar Blog Candy Winners!!!!

Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Link-up Party!!!

3rd Edition of The Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 2!

3rd edition of the Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop Day 1

Original Disney~Pixar Blog Hop!

Our upcoming Disney/Pixar Blog Hop!

Missing in action!

MPS NSD #10 Pet Challenge

MPS NSD Challenge #9 Use Glitz, Glam and Glitter

Still can't leave comments

MPS NSD Challenge #8 Summer Theme

MPS NSD Challenge #7 Create a Scrapbook Page

MPS NSD Challenge #6 Incorporate a Tag

Farewell to my Pink Flamingo days....

MPS NSD Challenge #5 Add a 3D item

HUGE giveaway over at Keepsakes by Melissa

Win Everyday Pop-Up Cards Cricut cartridge!!!

Slowly, but surely....

Flaunt it Fridays Challenge

MPS NSD Challenge #4 Mother's Day

MPS NSD Challenge #3 Breast Cancer Theme

The love of my life...

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #2 Kraft Paper

I was one of the winners over at My Pink Stamper!!!

My Pink Stamper National Scrapbooking Day Challenge submissions

Look what the mail lady brought me!

Great giveaway on Rexann's blog!

1000 Followers Blog Candy WINNER!

A surpising email!

Thank you Jamie!!!

Two bloggers looking for more followers!

Did anybody notice anything about my card yesterday?

Baby Elephant Card

Now for the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious WINNERS!!!!

Gypsy Winner from Disney/Pixar Blog Hop!

I will not be sorry for the feelings of joy I felt last night!

Happy Birthday Slugger!

Lot's of business!

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Take 2 - Day 2!!!

Disney/Pixar Blog Hop Take 2!

What a wonderful day!!!

My E2 is on its way from Ohio to Michigan!!!

OMGoodness!!!!!! LOOK!

Can't leave without a Mickey balloon!

Are you one of the winners???

Your chance to win a Scrap n Easel!

E2 LIVE!!!

Don't hate me because I'm a winner...AGAIN!

Sharing a giveaway!

Nothing like a hot dog from Casey's!!!

I just won an exclusive Cricut cartridge!!! (are you reading this Sandy? XOXO)

Let the countdown begin!

Disney Easter Egg Hop

Keeping the Peace Blog Hop!

Toadally Frog Blog Hop!

1000 Followers Blog Candy!

Hopping like crazy this weekend!

Wahooooo 1000 Followers!

Did someone say chocolate???

Vote for me!!!!

I'm still alive!

Flamingo Design Team Blog Challenge Submission

A Thursday Funny!

The Allore Family wishes you a Hoppy Easter!

Look what I got!!!

Want to win a Cricut Cake Machine?

Pinwheel Flower Card

Winner of Gloria's Bday Bash Blog Candy is........

**** I'm the lead pink flamingo today! ****

Still hopping!

Gloria's Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

Feeling the love with Kristal!

My husband is spoiling me! AND I LOVE IT!

I'm the lead pink flamingo today!