The Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop: Montana

A Big Cricut Hello & Chirp to each of you! Welcome to the Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop hosted by K Andrew of Getting Cricky! If you are here from Kathy Northup of I Love My Crazy Life then you are in the right spot. If you just arrived here and would like to start from the beginning please go to KAndrew's Getting Cricky! For this blog hop K Andrew is celebrating her big move across the country with a big road trip, and of course this hop across the 50 states! She has asked us all to post a little bit about the state we are representing, and then to post our Favorite Craft Project. I am representing the state of

MONTANA! :)


Map of MY state!








This is some of what you see in  MY beautiful state! I feel bad though, I didn't take this pic, I got it off of Google Images. 

 Here is a fact from Legends of America (this link will get you to the facts about MT). It is about the Roe River that yours truly helped get into the Guinness Book of World Records when I was in fifth grade! Here is the fact from the site: The Roe River is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's shortest river. The Roe flows 200 feet between Giant Springs and the Missouri River near Great Falls. The Roe River competes with the D River in Lincoln City, Oregon for the title of the shortest river. Both rivers have been measured on different occasions, with lengths varying from 58 feet to 200 feet. Schoolchildren in Great Falls campaigned successfully to have the Roe River placed in the Guinness Book of World Records.


Now for my project:

My SMACK card!

Here is a video I did of how I did the card! :)



AND....FINALLY.....Here is my BLOG CANDY!

You know you want it!!!

This Indie Art Solutions Cartridge was donated to this Blog Hop by Valerie of Scrapbooking For Less! She has the best brands at GREAT prices so you should go check her site out: HERE! You won't be sorry you did! :)
If you would like to get your name entered ONCE in the drawing for this cartridge just leave a comment! If you would like your name in TWICE.....become a follower (please let me know you are a follower too) and that will give you two chances to win! Don't forget to leave your email where I can get a hold of you with your comment please or I will have to pick another person if you are picked. :) I need to be able to get a hold of the winner. :)

Please make sure to leave comments on all of the blogs for a chance to win a ton of different Grand Prizes on Getting Cricky's blog, from these great companies:Scrap N Tote, Scrap N Easel, Cri-Kits, Creative Charms, Memory Miser, Scrappy Chic Cafe, Loralie Designs, My Pink Stamper, Peachy Keen Stamps, Cricut Town, The Scrappin' Table, Piktails, and Pink by Design!


Please make sure to visit ALL the blogs, as EVERY single blog will have fabulous giveaways (cricut cartridges, paper packs, copic markers, yourstory bundle, clear stamp sets, and tons more). Each blogger was extremely generous with their own personal giveaways!

Next stop on the hop is Gloria Sleeper of Oma’s Crafts !


Thanks so much for stopping! :)

Butterflies for a Cause (PHOTO HEAVY!!)

Hey All!!! :) Well, if you follow me on Facebook at all. One of the things I kept posting that I was working on this week was BUTTERFLIES! :)

A month or so ago I was reading my faved blogs and one of them is The Lime Light Scrappers.  From what I get- their reason for being is to SCRAP or CREATE for OTHERS. I love this approach, because while we ALL scrap for others...I feel scrapbooking and papercrafting is a hobby that is very selfless, since a lot of what we make is for others...EVEN our scrapbooks. :) I know my scrapbooks are not for me totally. I am hoping that my kids take them and share them with THEIR families. :) I did recently start my own scrapbook and have enjoyed doing pages for that one also. :)

Anyways-back to the Lime Light Scrappers...They create to give. This is what welcomes you on their site. It explains better than I could about what these ladies are about!

THE LIME LIGHT SCRAPPERS: We are a design team with a unique purpose. We use our crafting skills to help and bring light to others. We invite you to visit the site often to find out whom we are crafting for and what we are planning in the months to come. We have exciting plans that include making cards and bookmarks for our men and women in uniform, making journals for families whose children are in the hospital, making cards for baskets that help raise money for playground equipment....and that's just the beginning. Come back soon for pictures and blog entries giving you even deeper insight in to how the team is bringing light to those in need.

Is that not the BEST reason to do what we do??? I think so! :)

Well, their newest plan was to make butterflies for The Holocaust Museum in Houston, TX. I have always been intrigued by the Holocaust. Even as a little girl, I remember my mom telling me about the atrocities that the Nazi Army performed on innocent Jewish victims.  So, I know I have said this before, but, yet again, this was a project for me that was a NO BRAINER! :) I was so touched when I read the blog post here.  Gracie even included this poem that was written by a Prisoner at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.  This is the reason for the butterflies.

The Butterfly

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.


Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone....


Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.


It went away I’m sure because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.


But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me


And the white chestnut branches in the court.


Only I never saw another butterfly.


That butterfly was the last one.


Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on Jan. 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Aushchwitz on Sept. 29, 1944.


So- This is what I created for this special project.

 I used my Cricut Cart: Give a Hoot, EK Success Patterned Paper (Baby Collection, and Martha Stewart Pearls.

 I used Cricut Cart: Give a Hoot, Webster's Pages Patterned Paper (Hello Beautiful!), and Martha Stewart Pearls.

 I used Cricut Cart: Indie Art, American Crafts Pearlized Cardstock, Shimmery Puff Paint, Jenni Bowlin Studios pearl flowers, pearls (not sure where from), and Iridescent Foil Tissue Paper.

 This was my first one that I did. You could tell, because I had not found my groove or what I was wanting to create yet. It was a little "cutesy" for me. I used Cricut Cart Indie Art, American Crafts Pearlized Cardstock, Worn Lipstick and Eucalyptus Stickles, Pink Puff Paint, Colorbok bling (dots), Blingy Butterflies (not sure where from...again), and  Iridescent Foil Tissue Paper.

 I used Cricut Cart Indie Art, Bazzill BLING Cardstock, Pink Puffy Paint, Bling (not sure where from), Flourishes from Colorbok.

 I used Cricut Cart Indie Art,  American Crafts Pearlized Cardtock, Shimmery Puff Paint, Bling (don't get mad, but I really don't know where I get my bling...I am such a bling addict that I pick it up and stash it.)

 This one was fun, but a little frustrating. Leave it to me, to try a new technique or "thing" to me when I am on a deadline! :) I used Cricut Cart Hannah Montana, Bazzill Cardstock, OLD Music sheets from a Music book I got from Goodwill. I will say....I need to do a tutorial on cutting THAT with the Cricut. There were some not so nice exchanges between me and this music! :) HA! I then used Vintage Photo and Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  

 I used Cricut Cart Hannah Montana, Bazzill Cardstock, and Chatterbox (Artsylicious) Patterned Paper.

 I am not quite sure what happened with the last two pics..I took them and loaded them the same as the others. I used Cricut Cart Give a Hoot, Cloud Nine Designs Cinnamon Stick Patterned Paper. I made sure that the papers had 2 sides so I knew they would match. So, what you are seeing is the same piece of paper, basically. :) Easy Peasy! :) And of course, BLING! :)

I used Cricut Cart Give a Hoot, Heidi Grace Patterned Paper, and Bling.

Again- This was the best project I have done in a long time. Thanks Gracie and The Lime Light Scrappers for inspiring me to create these. :)

Thanks for visiting! :)

FRIGGIN' SWEET!

Hey everyone! :) Well, I have had a kind of rough weekend. My fibromyalgia has been acting up all week and I haven't been able to take my relaxers and actually get my pain under control. My son had The Big Sky Football Camp with Jack Johnson (he is a legend for high school football here in Great Falls, MT) and it started pretty early and i couldn't drive him there safely so I didn't take anything until after I picked him up from camp on Friday. So, for two days I was stuck in bed or on the couch. When I did make it downstairs into my Scrap Cave I was able to work on and eventually finish this:


I love this LO! :) It just came together and looks so much like Jon, my son. The pics are from his 11th Birthday Party. We took him and a couple of friends to a Paintball Park a little bit outside of Great Falls, on Bootlegger Trail. Those who live here know where I am talking about. It was so much fun watching the boys...well, BE BOYS! :) They had me crackin' up! :)

So, now for some details. :) I was able to "pop" the grenades that I cut with my Indie Art Cricut Cart. This is one of my faves, although it is hard to pick just ONE Cricut Cart that I LOVE! ;) TeeHee! :)

I love this part of the LO. To go along with the "Military" type feel of the LO, I took a punch that I have had for years from Paper Shapers and punched the dog tags out. I then took some Tim Holtz chains (not sure this is what they are called, but that would be what attached the tags to the LO. I also thought it may look neat so I "hooked" them on to a big brad (not sure who made it).

I tore the "crazy good times" and "Friggin' Sweet" titles out of a page of We R Memory Keepers, "Teen Angst" paper pad. I also journaled on the pics instead of just on the dog tags. I used the Sakura, Glaze pens in black to do this. Thanks for looking and I hope to be able to blog about some more scrappy goodness soon! :)

Spring Butterfly Card for Swap (March '09)

This is a 6x6 card that I did for a Spring Swap at my lss.
What I used: Bazzill (apple green), DCWV-Butterflies and Blossoms, Stampin'Up (mat for stamped image), studio g, memento dew drop inks (rosebud and new sprout), white and black cardstock was from scrap, fiskars border punch, circles were cut using the Creative Memories Circle Cutting System, Butterfly was cut with the Cricut and Indie Art Cartridge on Glossy White Paper using the Alcohol Ink Splatter Technique from Tim Holtz's Demo at: http://www.timholtz.com/demos.html, black cardstock was used for the butterfly's shadow, bling was from Bead Party

Jon's Last Day of School '06

These pics were taken during Jon's Last Day of First Grade! :) See how long it took to get them scrapped? I just keep telling myself I was waiting for ideas on how to scrap them!! LOL!
What I used: 12x12 DCWV-Stack 6, Circles were cut from scrap paper using the Creative Memories Circle cutting system, Dice was cut with the Cricut using the Indie Art Cartridge and scrap paper, Delight Horizontal Journaling Tag-Ali Edwards for Designer Digitals also PhotoShop Elements 7 to edit the tag for use, Ranger Alcohol Inks in Lettuce, Cranberry, and Denim, Ranger Paint Dabber in Lettuce, Doodlebug Designs-brown brads, and CTMH- red, yellow, green, and blue brads.