The weeks sure do fly by, don't they....

...And I haven't posted anything!

Where have I been and what have I been up to? Well, I'd love to say LOTS OF CRAFTING, but I have to be honest and say a little crafting, a little laziness, and a LOT of job hunting!

Since my last post more than a week ago, I have spent some time revamping my blog, figuring out how to post via my phone, and organizing my scrapping room a little more. On the more personal side of my life, my cell phone was dying so I had to get a new one (hellllooo iPhone4 heaven! Thank you, dear husband!), sold my old one on eBay, decorated my house for Halloween, and have been spending lots of time talking to my family and catching up with everyone. It's been quite nice!

My aunt was visiting Florida a few weeks ago and I spent some wonderful time with her in St. Augustine and got some great hands-on time with my camera! Some photos from that day are below:

The Old City Gate

Castillo de San Marcos, The Fort

Mission of Nombre de Dios, Statue of Father Francisco Lopez and The Great Cross

I also debated going back to PA for a crafts festival that my sister has at the store that she inherited from my grandmother, but that also fell on the one year anniversary of that grandmother's passing, so I spent a few days here a little under the weather thinking about her and missing her.

And as for the job search, still no bites and no successes, but I am still trying to remain optimistic that the right thing will come along for me when the time is right!

Now, on to the happiness of life that is CRAFTING!

I have obtained a few new toys and accessories to play with in the past few days as Christmas came early to Carol's house! With the promotion that Provocraft is running currently for the Gypsy, and dearest husband knowing that I have been itching to get my hands on one of these for a few months now, he decided that Santa would have to deliver this gift a little early, so the other night, we went out and got it at my neighborhood Michael's. And can I tell you..... it's WONDERFUL!!! It truly is so much more than I ever thought it would be! I have already designed and made more since I've gotten this than I have in a couple of months! I love sitting in the living room or laying in bed and setting up my page to be cut and then going in the scrap room for a few hours and actually getting SO much done! I think I was slowing down on my pages and cards due to frustration of having to change paper on the mat so many times for one little project. Now it seems SO simple! And I can't wait to get the 6 free carts on November 1st!!!!

So Gypsy was #1!

The same night we got the G at Michael's, I found a 50% off MS products coupon that was still good in my purse, so I picked up the Pink Martha Stewart Bone Folder and got it for around $4! It's so pretty and it has little bling on it!!!

I thought that's about all I'd be getting for a little while, but.... I'd be fibbing!

Today, I had to run some errands and decided to wander around Ross for a while since I haven't been in that store for some time. I didn't know they had any scrapbooking supplies, but they DO! I picked up a box of stuff and I'll have to do a video to show you all the stuff that was inside of it for $9.99! I was ecstatic with that and after reading some more of the blogs that I follow, apparently, each box has different stuff in it, sooooo, I might be going out for a few more this week! Video to follow!

After I got home, I started to work on some more projects and came up with a very cute idea for some take-homes for my Thanksgiving guests! I made some Pilgrims and Indians from the Paperdoll Dress Up cartridge and then covered the coasters that we had picked up at M's back on October 11th with some harvest-theme colored paper and Modge Podged the figures on them! They turned out so cute! I have some more to make, but I like how they are turning out so far, so I will have to go get more coasters this week. (Maybe I should inquire about working at Michael's? LOL!) Here's what they look like:

And then I finished up the Halloween cards that I needed to send this week. They were both made using Happy Hauntings, the MS Drippy Goo Punch, the MS Halloween stamps, and the MS Embossing powders. This was my first time playing with embossing powders and a heat gun, but I love the effect and how they turned out! Here they are:

I need to be better about posting my projects as I go! This is a lot for one post, isn't it?

Well, I hope no one fell asleep while reading and I promise I'll try to be better about posting more regularly!

Happy Crafting!

Finally!

I have finally had some time to do my crafting! I haven't been updating the blog with the photos, but I have spent a few nights the past week or so in my craft room playing around! I also found a new television show on TV that is about scrapbooking and has been giving me some great ideas (especially when I have it playing in the background while I'm playing around!)

My hubby has also been supporting my "habit", but more about that in a few!

Before I get to the crafting update, here is some updates about my personal life!

First, I have a stepdaughter that's a HIGH SCHOOLER! How scary is that!?! K started 9th grade on Monday and I think we were more nervous about how it would go than she was! So far, she loves it! She's amazed at how the teachers and administration is treating them like "adults"... the biggest shocker: That they don't have to ask to go to the bathroom at lunch time! :-) Oh I miss high school!

Secondly, we had a big birthday in our house this past week! Our puppy... well, not a puppy anymore, turned 4 (28 in human years, right?) Our Yorkie named Princess (nicknamed Princess Pie, P-Dub, SugarSugar, or many other unmentionable names!) celebrated her birthday on Tuesday.

No, I didn't really make her wear a hat. It's a "sticker" that I put on the photo on Picnik! But it looks real, doesn't it?

We are getting ready to head north to PA again next week for my mother's wedding. It'll be a very stressful and time-crunched trip, but I am still looking forward to seeing my family! I miss them so much! And I've FINALLY gotten my dress and shoes for the wedding. I hope they work!

So here's what else has been going on!

My hubby, as I said, has been supporting my habit by BUYING ME MORE CARTRIDGES! Recently, for a project that we volunteered me for, I had to purchase (yes, HAD to!) A Child's Year.

I can't write more about the project.. just in case... but as soon as it's complete, there will be LOTS of details!

Then, we heard that Michaels had a sale on their carts, so HUBBY suggested we go check them out! He had two carts in hand for me, but I talked him into only one. That was so backwards from what I THOUGHT was going to happen, but true story!

So we ended up purchasing what I think is my new favorite cartridge, Create-A-Critter!!! SO MUCH FUN!

Also last weekend, hubby WANTED to take me to Hobby Lobby and Joann's! I'm not quite sure what's gotten into him, but I'll take it while it's here!

Of course, then I had to play with these new toys! So here's what I've come up with!

This was a card that I made for hubby and I to give to our new high schooler with some words of encouragement for high school written on the inside! Made with the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.

A friendship card made with the Stretch Your Imagination cart as well.

Card made with the Winter Frolic cartridge.

Card made with the Winter Frolic cartridge.

The card for my Mom's wedding. Made using the Cuttlebug and Stretch Your Imagination cart.

First Anniversary card made for my mother-in-law using Stretch Your Imagination cart.

Just a really neat image cut using the Happy Hauntings cart. It's a haunted house that I cut and pasted onto a sheet of 8.5x11" paper and then the "Enter if you Dare" image cut and glittered and glued. Don't know what I'm going to use it for, but I had to try it out!

I've also done quite a few scrapbook layouts, but will share those later!

I'm a spoiled wife!

I cannot express how blessed I am to have the husband and family that I do and how much he tends to spoil me!

My DH has been working very hard at his job lately and I have been trying to be as supportive as I can of his long hours and sour mood. I have also been in a funk lately for the lack of finding a job. This weekend, for the first time in a very long time, my husband and I were able to spend some quality time together. During some of that QT, we ended up at Joann Fabric. Well.... Joann's was having a great deal on Cricut cartridges this week. I had been admiring some of the carts and been sharing the creations of some of the bloggers and message board people that I follow. He knew how much I have been wanting some of the carts and to my utter surprise, I came home with 3 new cartridges! Seems like, "Wow... how much money can one person blow on cartridges in one spot?" Well, this week (until the 14th actually), all Cricut carts were on sale from $89.99 to $33.99. So, all 3 cost us $101.97 when they normally would have been $269.97! We also picked up some neat cardstock and a paper puncher that I didn't have. In total, we saved $170+ from what the regular prices were. Not bad for an unexpected trip!

The new carts that I picked up yesterday are:

Designer's Calendar

Winter Frolic

Happy Hauntings

Technically, DH was going to buy me four, but this Joann's was out of Mini Monsters. Oh well! So now, there are only three more carts on my wishlist (for now)! I'm hoping that for my upcoming birthday or Christmas, I'll get Mini Monsters, Simply Charmed, and/or From My Kitchen.

Earlier in the week, I had stopped by the store and picked up two other cartridges:

Paper Doll Dress Up

"Just Because" Cards

I can't wait to dig into them this week and see what I come up with! Because of this unplanned splurge, it's going to be a hang-low and keep it cool in the house kinda week! :-) But that's okay with me! Projects will be posted this week!