"Hi" Beach card and Cobbler

 I FINALLY got a sew easy (just the main straight stitch and mat) so I have been playing around with it a bit. I made a really cute thank-you card for one of my students who had given me a jar of canned strawberry jam, but forgot to take a picture before I mailed it. Another card I made is this one, with an island and sea turtle swimming in the ocean. I thought it was cute, but DH didn't like it. :-/ Oh well. I LOVE the sew easy and cant wait to get more heads for it! I also used Simply Sweet for the "H" and "I" since they're cute and I just got that cart off rewards. I'm lovin' it.

And on a non-crafty note, I've been trying to bake (ha) so I tried out two recipes a couple of days ago. The first one, a chocolate-cherry cobber made with cake and brownie mixes turned out delicious...
(yes, that's a funfetti topping, since I didn't have yellow cake mix)

And a strawberry muffin recipe ended up trashing the whole stove, so I've spent 4 and a half hours today with the smell of the self-clean oven self-cleaning! Ugh... what a mess! It took 30 minutes to scrub enough dough off the pans to soak in hot water overnight, then another 20 minutes to scrape the rest before putting them in the dishwasher. Fair warning- the mess got worse after I took this picture!

And suddenly I remembered why I don't cook...

Bash's Baby Album... Rawr! Picture HEAVY

Here is the book I've been working on F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!! Actually, the babe just had his first birthday, so it couldn't have been that long, but it sure felt like it. I would work for a bit, then get tired of seeing Safari papers and not touch it for a month... over and over and over! I finally finished it and gave it to Whitney when she and Sebastian were visiting from out west. I left lots of space so she can journal, and several envelopes so she can put random stuff she keeps (yep... she's one of those moms, haha) Anyway,  here it is: 

page 1

Up close... from New Arrival

pages 2-3

I cut the monkey and lion from the paper stack, the banner is from Dinosaur Tracks

pages 4-5

I love this page, where Whitney can write all of Bash's "Firsts." And the giraffe is too cute! He and the elephant came from New Arrival

pages 6-7

pages 8-9

pages 10-11

page 12

 page 13

pages 14-15

pages 16-17

page 18

page 19

page 20, where all the extra stuff goes

Whew! I should've posted the pages as I finished them, instead of waiting until the end. I can't remember all of the Cricut cartridges I used. All paper was DCWV.

Greeting Cards (in a box)

Yesterday I got my LRS kit for July, and although I'll admit it's not my favorite, I was able to play around and pretty quickly make a few cards. I decided to keep them similar so I could put them in a box I got from papertrey ink. Here are all 4 cards (with pre-made envelopes) in the box. (The prima flower came in the kit... those are things I always say "sooo pretty, but sooo expensive" to in the store.)

Here are two cards (though the paper is so busy you can't really see the details)

And the other two:

Cute Stuff

I was playing around with my Imagine tonight and came up with this cute bowl of strawberries from Simply Charmed. I think it's my all-time favorite cartridge. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but it's cute! One thing I love about my Imagine is that I was able to make every cut with only white paper. 

The Husband spent most of the evening in the craft room with me (not sure why, lol) but he encouraged me to update my laptop cover. First I made a rough draft with paper, then used my printable vinyl to create this cute little owl from Hoot n' Holler.

Since I had the paper-version left over, the Husband wanted to make something with it instead of just throwing it away. Once he found out what a 'notecard' was, he picked out the paper and I made this for him. He picked out the ribbon too, lol. I enjoyed our time hanging out, even though it was weird to have him in there telling me what to do! Hahaha. I guess it's not very often he gets to boss me around ;-)

Cricut Stand

Here is the awesome Cricut stand that the husband made for me to hold both my Imagine and my e2. I painted it today, and will probably decorate it soon, but couldn't wait to share! 

Artist Card

This is a card I made for my older sister, inspired by Monet. I think it turned out cute. I used Reminisce Accents for the font, Pagoda for the bridge, Botanicals for the flowers, along with a hydrangea MS punch. I added stickles to the pink flowers. She's an artist, so I think she'll appreciate the effort. 

And the inside...

It's Our Choice

I wanted to share this from Max Lucado’s The Devotional Bible, based on Genesis 2:4–3:24. It's not about MY creation today, it's about HIS.

SITUATION: God the creator completed His masterpiece by creating man and woman. God breathed life and spirit into His special handiwork. Though sin entered the world , God also provided redemption from sin.

OBSERVATION: God created people with the freedom to choose or reject Him. When his creation chose to rebel, God revealed His plan for salvation.

INSPIRATION: He placed one scoop of clay upon another until a form lay lifeless on the ground….

All were silent as the Creator reached in himself and removed something yet unseen. “It’s called ‘choice’. The seed of choice.” Creation stood in silence and gazed upon the lifeless form. An angel spoke, “But what if he….”

“What if he chooses not to love?” the Creator finished. “Come, I will show you.” Unbound by today, God and the angel walked into the realm of tomorrow….

The angel gasped at what he saw. Spontaneous love. Voluntary devotion. Never had he seen anything like this….

The angel stood speechless as they passed through centuries of repugnance. Never had he seen such filth. Rotten hearts. Ruptured promises. Forgotten loyalties….

The creator walked on in time, further and further into the future, until he stood by a tree. A tree that would be fashioned into a cradle. Even then he could smell the hay that would surround him….

“Wouldn’t it be easier to not plant the seed? Wouldn’t it be easier to not give the choice?”

“It would,” the Creator spoke slowly. “But to remove the choice is to remove the love.”

…They stepped into the garden again. The Maker looked earnestly at the clay creation. A monsoon of love swelled up within him. He had died for the creation before he had made him. God’s form bent over the sculptured face and breathed. Dust stirred on the lips of the new one. The chest rose, cracking the red mud. The cheeks fleshened. A finger moved. And an eye opened.

But more incredible than the moving of the flesh was the stirring of the Spirit. Those who could see the unseen gasped. Perhaps it was the wind who said it first. Perhaps what the star saw at that moment is what has made it blink ever since. Maybe it was left to an angel to whisper it.

“It looks like….it appears so much like….it is him!”

The angel wasn’t speaking of the face, the features, or the body. He was looking inside – at the soul.

“It’s eternal!” gasped another.

Within the man, God had placed a divine seed. A seed of his self. The God of might has created the earth’s mightiest. The Creator had created, not a creature, but another creator. And the One who had chosen to love had created one who could love in return.

Now it’s our choice.