Wow! WELCOME to all of my new friends and followers!

I haven't been able to get on my blog for the past week or so because life got in the way (jury duty and some family stuff), and I hopped on today to see what's going on and I suddenly have a TON of new follower (THANK YOU, MOMO!!) So I wanted to do a quick post to say WELCOME to my crazy little crafting world!

I will try to do a more substantial update on my life and my crafts this evening at some point because there's a lot to write about (find me on Facebook if you want to know now! ;-))!

Thank you all for finding, friending, and following me!!

Busy Bee Book

Happy Friday!!!

I wanted to hop on here quickly to share a cute little project with you all that I made the night before last for my dearest husband. :-) I have been working on some spring cleaning and re-organizing my craft room (the never ending task, I think!) and realized that I have several tools that I purchased but haven't used yet, so I wanted to create something to try out these tools....

So, to give a bit of background on this book and why I giggle when I look at it: I often tell my husband that I want more help around the house. He, on the other hand, is always saying that he wants to help, but often can't "see" the little things that I would like to get done, so to help him, I am often leaving little notes or lists around the house, but those are often ignored overlooked. Soooo... here's what I made!

I'm calling it my hubby's "Busy Bee Book"

I made it using the YourStory (for the first time!), Martha Stewart hot glue gun (for the first time!), the Crop-A-Dile Big Bite, Inkadinkadoo chalks, and the Create A Critter cartridge.

I printed out the mini-lists on the computer and cut them to size. Then, I created the book cover using a heavy cardstock. I then put a line of hot glue in the seam of the book and let it cool. Once it was hardened and cool, I dropped it into the YourStory on "bind" mode and pushed the papers gently into the glue. Once it was done and had time to cool, I decorated it with the Create a Critter bee and phrase and finished those off with some chalks!

With this, unless hubby throws away loses the book, his little to-do list will always be easy to find! :-)

So, for a quick review of the two items that I used for the first time:

1. The YourStory ROCKS! I had played around with some laminating earlier in the day and love it!! This was the first binding that I had done and it did a great job. Even with it being a very unprofessional spine and cover, the paper is really in there and doesn't seem like it's coming out any time soon!

2. The MS hot glue gun is amazing! I'm used to the glue guns that kind of sputter and the glue is all webby and sticks to everything. NOT WITH THIS ONE! The gun heated up quite quickly, the glue came out very smooth and there was no webbing pulling away from the product!

With that said, this is the first time I used either of these, so I might have just been on a new-product high, but they really do seem like great products. :-)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go.

~Irish Blessing

My first Spinner Card and some layouts

In reading through my fellow crafter's blogs tonight, I came across Michelle's tutorial at Scrappin with My Bug on how to make Spinner Card.... so I had to try it! :-)

Not too shabby for my first one!! It was actually very easy to make, thanks to Michelle's instructional video!!!! I need to work on my measurements a bit (my spinner pops off every now and then), but I love it!

I also wanted to share two quick layouts that I'm super-proud of!

The first is one of last Easter when I was in PA with my family there. We held a little family Easter egg hunt for my cute niece, so this is my layout for that event.

This second one is my favorite one that I've done so far! The photos are from Christmas 2009 in PA when my niece was only one and a half.... and my husband started dipping her pacifier in the icing that we were using to decorate the gingerbread houses. Needless to say, he quickly became her favorite person of the day!! :-)

I hope y'all are having a happy, crafting evening! Thanks for stopping by!

An FYI Video about Using BIA wires with a Cinch

I didn't know if the wires made especially for the Bind-It-All would line up correctly with my Cinch binding tool.... so I tried it and made a video for whoever may have the same question I did. :-)

Haul Video

Here's a video to share some of my recent finds!! :-) Sorry about the wacky volume and the low volume on my voice. I dunno why that happened because I was standing right next to the mic. :-(

Awards, Awards, Everywhere!

Good afternoon, friends!! :-)

I logged on to my FB and my blog this afternoon and was greeted with lots of LOVE!!! I received three, yes, THREE awards from some dear blogging friends!

First, Gina over at Gina's Crafting Spot gave me the

Thank you, Gina!!!! You have to go check out her super-cute blog!

The requirements for this award are post three things about you that people don't know and then pass the blog award on to 5 people, so here I go!

1. I moved to Florida all by myself when I was 24. This was 1,000 miles away from where I grew up and I had never even visited or vacationed in Florida before!

2. I met my husband online in 2006! *GASP*

3. I have been collecting pens since before college. I have quite a few boxes of them. It's not that I don't want to use them.... but they are so awesome that I'm afraid I'll never find them again!

Now, my 5 recipients:

1. Mari (aka Momo) at Made By Momo

2. Christel at One Scrappin Sista

3. Debbie at DD's Crafts

4. Ruthie at September Ninth

5. Melissa at Disney Dreamer Designs

~~~~~~~~~

Then Tanya at Scrappin KY Momma gave me two more awards!

and

For this one, I'm supposed to share 8 [more] things about myself and then pay it forward to 8 recipients, so here we go:

1. I only started scrapbooking and paper crafting because I didn't know what else to do with the thousands of photos that I have.

2. I am a gadget geek. I love gadgets and electronics!

3. My sister is my best friend.

4. I have visited every state on the east coast of the USA, but never been further west than West Virginia.

5. If I don't get at least 9 hours of sleep a night, I'm quite a grump.

6. I am totally hooked on watching "Cops" and all the other Cop-like shows!

7. Most of my favorite movies are kids movies or cartoons.

8. I am scared to death of all bugs.

How are those for random facts about me?? :-)

Now to share with 8 blogger friends:

1. Joy at JoysLife.com

2. Michelle at Queen of my Craftroom

3. Kassidy at Inking It Up Crazy

4. Laurie at Hiding in My Craft Room

5. Julie at Cricut Chick

6. Tangee & Tammy at Kricut Krazy

7. Tina & Wendy at Two Chics and a Cricut

8. Alex at You Had Me At Craft

~~~~~

Thank you for thinking of me with these awards, Tanya and Gina!!!

Pop on by all of these great blogs and check them out!! And if you're one of my recipients, please pay it forward!