Last day of July - last chances!

After lots of travels and some technical difficulties (internet and printer problems) we are finally home and I am ready to start creating and sharing again.  I will post some photos from our trip separately but I wanted to let you knew about a few offers that end tonight.  The links to Lettering Delights are affiliate links. I have used Lettering Delights products for years and I highly recommend them for both digital projects and cutting files.

When Lettering Delights first started offering cutting files they were in the SVG format only.  The newer "Cut It" sets come in multiple formats, including SVG so you will still be able to purchase SVGs from them.  Lettering Delights is retiring their original SVG sets and today is the last day to buy them at only $1 per set, making these images very inexpensive.  There are many sets to choose from - I stocked up last night! 

They have also added all of the Alphabets to the sale.  These are graphics files, not cutting files, but you can import them to Design Space and use the shapes (and eventually you should be able to use the image for Print Then Cut with the Explore).

If you spend $15 or more (between July 1 and 31, 2014) You will get the Get Happy Collection (a $31 value) free.  It will be added to your account automatically if your purchases for the month are over $15.

As always with Lettering Delights, there are some additional savings codes.  You can save 40% on purchases of $20 or more with the code "MerryKissmas" and save 25% on purchases of $10 or more with the code "GetItNow."

Close to My Heart will release their new products and idea book tomorrow, August 1st.  I can't wait to try their new card making cartridge, Artfully Sent (click HERE to see more about this cartridge coming sometime in August).  There are a number of stamp sets retiring and also some prices will be increasing.  You can see the retiring stamps and other items on my friend Joy's site HERE.  Joy also posted a list of the price increases on her blog, Obsessed With Scrapbooking, HERE.

I'll be back later today with some photos from our first visit to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California - Garlic Capital of the World!

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Special deals about to expire...

Thank you so much for all of the kind thoughts and words of condolence on the passing of Steve's uncle.  We were able to celebrate his life with family last weekend and the services were filled with his favorite music and fond remembrances from friends and family.

There are a few sales and other offers that are about to expire.  Under normal circumstances I would have posted about these last week.  I wanted to make sure you didn't miss out on any of these offers that are of interest to you.  I am still away with family but will be back to my usual schedule soon.

Mary at SVGCuts has done it again with this fabulous set of Christmas Box cards.  This set is available as a free gift until July 23rd if you make a purchase of $9.98 or more at SVGCuts. Once you have $9.98 or more in your cart, add the Christmas Box Card SVG Kit to your cart, type FREEGIFT in the coupon field and check out.  Your files are available for instant download after paying. 

The box cards are great and there are many elements included for the cards that can also be used separately for other projects.  These files work very well with the Explore - if you are not sure how to use them you can check my blog post HERE for a detailed explanation.  I love to design my own files but it is also fun to have everything figured out for you.  I like SVGCuts so much that I became an affiliate for them - if you click HERE or on the box in the right side column to make you purchase I will earn a small commission - thanks for supporting my blog!

Cricut Sales and Deals
These links are affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something after clicking the link.  Your price stays the same. I appreciate it very much when you use my links to shop.  You can always click on the Cricut image in the side column to start shopping.  Thanks for your support of my blog!

There are five Disney cartridges for just $19.99 on the Cricut site HERE.  The cartridges included are both Princess cartridges (Dreams Come True and Happily Ever After), Mickey and Friends, Disney Classics and the Pooh Font cartridge (the marker and wood fonts on this cartridge are great!).

The Cricut Explore machine is available at a new lower price of $249.99 and there are also some great bundle deals starting at $269.99 - Click HERE to see all of the choices.

Cricut also has a 30% off sale on all supplies and also on everything in the Deals Department. 

Finally,  the free images to cut for a week were from the Zoo Day image set.  Some of the word art in these is very cute and the set includes images from "A is for alligator" to "Z is for zebra."  You still have a little time left to cut any of the images using either the Cricut Craftroom or Design Space.  These images are also included in the Cricut Image Subscription which gives you access to over 25,000 images and over 200 fonts on a monthly or yearly basis.

Remember, Cricut offers free standard shipping in the continental US for purchases of $35 or more - just use the code FREESHIP35 at checkout.

Just a little quiz - can anyone guess where I am this week?  The tile mosaic photos in this post will give you a clue...

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A Sad Update

 

This rose is blooming right next to our garage.  It is from a rosebush that a friend gave me for a "milestone" birthday several years ago.  It hasn't bloomed very much in the past few years but right now there are two beautiful roses on the bush.

It has been a difficult week here.  Last Friday we lost Steve's uncle after a lengthy battle with cancer.  He was much too young and didn't get the chance to fully enjoy his retirement years.  It is a reminder to us that life is uncertain and you should do the things you want to do now before it is too late.

Uncle Wendell taught us a lot about classical music and opera (one of his great passions), fine food and art.  He loved to travel and was a meticulous genealogist, working on a family history book for most of his adult life.  He served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.  When he returned, he finished law school and went on to have a great career as a labor lawyer.  He was a wonderful source of advice when I was a young attorney in upstate New York.  I worked at a firm that was a rival to the firm where he started his career and he never failed to give me a hard time for joining the "wrong" firm.  We will all miss him very much and I am sad that his young grandchildren will not have the chance to grow up learning from him.

I have not had my mind on crafting or blogging this week and we will be busy with family this weekend.  I'll try to update and share some crafty news soon.

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Free Scrapinar for July - Die Cuts to Die For

There is a free Scrapinar tonight on a topic that I know will interest most of my readers.  Kerri Bradford will present "Die Cuts to Die For."  Kerri designed both the Graphically Speaking and the Printing Press Cricut cartridges and she is a popular die cutting designer and instructor.  She will be sharing tips that are useful for both electronic and manual die cutting machine users.

Lain Ehmann of Layout a Day hosts these Scrapinars each month and they are a lot of fun.  It you attend live there is a time for questions and answers after the presentation.  This month the sponsor is Paper Camellia Scrapbook Kits.

The Scrapinar is at 8 p.m. Eastern time.  If that time does not work for you, there will be a recording available for a few days but you must register HERE to get on the list to receive the link for the recording.

I am planning to attend tonight - I hope to "see" some of you there!

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Free Cricut Images to cut this week - Rock Princess

 

Thank you all so much for the wonderful birthday wishes.  I haven't yet had a chance to reply to everyone but I do want you to know how much I appreciate all of your kind words.

My young neighbor Cailean has her birthday just one day after mine.  She turned 10 this year - double digits!  I gave her an assortment of crafty goodies and when I went to put it all together I realized that I needed a bigger gift bag - the one I had planned to use was too small.  I had a plain white bag that would hold everything so I decided to dress it up a little.

The bag was just over 12 inches tall so I trimmed a couple of pieces of 12 x 12 paper to fit the width.  I adhered them to the bag with Scor-Tape to be sure they would stay attached.  On the flat side of the bag it is easy to place the decorative paper.  I found that measuring and scoring a line on the paper before I added it to the back worked better than trying to just hold the bag flat - you simply attach it at the score line and then the rest will fall into place neatly.

This week (July 9 - 16, 2014) you can cut any of the images on the Rock Princess cartridge for free in both the Cricut Craftroom and the Design Space (for the Cricut Explore).  I remember receiving this cartridge for a Design Team assignment shortly after it was released.  At first, I wondered what on earth I would use it for in a house with no teen girls.  Once I started looking I found some nice floral images, banners, butterflies, stars and a great font.

The font adds a tiny heart to each letter so it would be perfect for Valentine's Day or any title or sentiment that needs a little extra love!  I used this font to cut out Cailean's name in a coordinating shade of paper and adhered it to the opposite side of the decorative paper to help the name stand out against the busy pattern (I think the paper looks a little like fireworks just not in patriotic colors!).

I tied the handles together with a piece of the same ribbon that we used when I helped Cailean make a "Lincoln hat" for a school presentation.  It doesn't really match the papers but I knew she would remember working on our project when she saw it.

Cailean asked her mother to make a ten layered cake for her 10th birthday.  Well, I think Lori deserves "Mom of the Year" for this amazing creation.  She hadn't even worked with fondant before but she came up with this "Princess and the Pea" cake.  If you look carefully you can see the green pea at the bottom near the ladder.

I am sure Cailean will always remember her 10th birthday cake!

Cricut Sales this week
These links are affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something after clicking the link.  Your price stays the same. I appreciate it very much when you use my links to shop.  You can always click on the Cricut image in the side column to start shopping.  Thanks for your support of my blog!

on sale for $299.99

The Cricut Explore machines are now available in a variety of bundles starting at $269.99.  You can get the machine with the wireless bluetooth adapter for $279.99.  (I think this is a good deal - I paid $299 at launch with no adapter and the adapter sells for $49.99 regular price).

Remember, you can get free shipping on all continental US orders over $35 by using the code FREESHIP35.

If you like the images that are offered free each week, you can buy the digital or physical cartridge for that set or check to see if they are included in the Image Library Subscription.  Rock Princess is one of the many images sets included in the subscription.  You can see the images included by clicking on the link in the subscription description HERE.

I have found it so handy to have a subscription.  Even though I have a lot of cartridges, I had slowed my purchasing down considerably in the past few years so there are quite a few available to me through the subscription that I didn't have before.  I also have not linked some of my cartridges that are included the subscription which keep my options open if I decide to "destash" my collection.

One more nice thing about the subscription is that new cartridges (unless they are licensed images) are added to the subscription within a day or so of the release.  Fancy Boxes is a new image set that was released this week.  There are 50 boxes in ten different shapes.  It's great fun to find new images in your library when you log in!

Finally, the July Mystery Box is available for just $29.99.  If you add something small to make your purchase $35 or more you can get free shipping.  I did not order this but I have seen reports that it includes the Chalkboard Fonts cartridge, a set of standard grip mats and the four Cricut Premium Stamps sets (you can see them HERE).  Each stamp set includes a redemption code for coordinating images in the Cricut digital image library.  The Mystery Boxes often sell out and the contents could vary (but I have always heard that people got the same items).

Have a great weekend!

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Happy Birthday (to me!)

Today is my birthday.  I will be celebrating with some family members today and then again with others this weekend.  It seems like birthdays arrive faster and faster as you get older (but I am glad that they keep arriving!).  I know that at least a few of you share this birthday with me - so Happy Birthday to you too!

I have a lot of fond memories of birthday cakes served on this special pedestal cake plate.  My mother often made a birthday cake with boiled frosting and melted chocolate drizzled down the sides.  I think she might have started making that cake when I was a little older.

I can't share my actual birthday cake with everyone reading this blog so here is a "virtual" birthday cupcake for you - the best kind since the photo has no calories!

I hope your summer is going well.  I certainly am on a summer schedule for blog posting.  I know many of you are used to receiving a daily post by email.   This summer I am working on some bigger projects so I am posting only a few times a week.  Things should get back to the usual schedule by the end of the summer.

I've made some progress on the craftroom reorganization including lots of moving things from one place to another.  I have heard your requests and I will try to post at least a few photos of some of the finished sections of this massive project soon.

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Capturing Changes with Annual Photos

I often hear people say "I am so behind with my scrapbooks - I'll never catch up."  These are usually the strict chronological album makers who feel the need to make their books begin at the beginning of the year and continue sequentially until they reach December.

I think this style of scrapping is very difficult - just one little thing can throw you off sequence and then you are "stuck" until you can "catch up."  I prefer the storytelling method or a retrospective collection of photos to show how people have changed.  I like to help people who are overwhelmed by being "behind" make albums that cover many years and showcase the best of the best from their collections of photos.

For the past few years, we have had our nephew stay with us for a day of "Camp Aunt Diane" while his parents drive their older twins to camp in Maine.   Each year I have taken a photo of the campers before they leave by the tree in our front yard.  I was away one year so in 2012 it was "Camp Uncle Steve" (and apparently, we missed getting a photo that year).  Photos taken annually at the same spot make a great page to show how kids grow and mature.

2010

2011

2013

2014

If you use the same "photo spot," you can see some changes in the landscape as well.  This year our tree had a limb removed from the right side as you look at these photos.

I tried two arrangements of the photos.  At the top of this post the photos are arranged in order left to right in two rows.  In this version, the photos are arranged clockwise by date.  I like the second page a bit better because I think the colors are more evenly balanced.  In the first version both of the photos on the left have bright colored clothing so the eye is pulled in that direction.

Do you take annual photos in the same location each year?  I think the most common are the first day of school photos.  If you scrap chronologically, these will all end up in different albums.  You might want to try pulling out similar photos from different years to make some new "retrospective" pages.  It is great fun to see how people change over the years.

You can also find old photos of family members and deliberately pose them as closely as possible to the original photo - I have done a few of these that I'll share another day.

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A Week of Celebrations

 

 

It's been a busy week and you may have noticed that I haven't posted here lately.  We have had family visiting and several celebrations all leading up to the Fourth of July tomorrow.  I decided to just take a little break from blogging and enjoy the time with our visitors.

Here is a peek at what I have been doing...

Last Tuesday, I took my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to IKEA for a shopping adventure.  We wandered all of the aisles, ate lunch, loaded and unloaded boxes into the van and then I spent the next day or so assembling pieces for my craft room reorganization project.  I put together so many things that I got a blister on my hand (but it is better now).

Our son and daughter-in-law arrived from California and on Friday night we had our immediate family together for fajitas and and rousing game of "Hand and Foot" (a card game that our family has been playing for years).  Traditionally we play the guys against the girls and this time the girls didn't do very well, just bad luck with the cards or maybe it was the lucky game hats worn by the guys!

The weather was fantastic over the weekend and we attended the wedding of the daughter of dear family friends.  It was held on the grounds of the Old Manse here in Concord (just beside the Old North Bridge).

The reception was held under a large tent.

The flowers were gorgeous with different combinations in low vases on every table.

The bride and our older son were high school classmates - it's hard to believe that is has been over ten years since they graduated.

We got home late and had lots to do to prepare for our big family get together on Sunday.  We met our great niece in person for the first time (she lives in Switzerland with her parents).  I was so busy I didn't get to take many photos - this was taken when they arrived a bit before the rest of the clan and she had just awakened from a nap in the car.  Soon she was all smiles, she is a very easy going and sweet baby!

So now we are having early Fourth of July celebrations in Boston due to the unpredictable path and intensity of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Arthur.  We won't be going to the Esplanade to hear the Boston Pops and see the fireworks in person.  I hope you have safe and happy celebrations wherever you are.

Some Exciting Cricut News...
The links below are affiliate links and I appreciate it very much when you use my links to go to the site and shop.  You can always click on the Cricut image in the side column too.  Thanks for your support of my blog!

The new German carbide premium blades for the Cricut Explore are finally available - click HERE to find the blade on the Cricut site.  This is the blade that shipped with the Explore and I am still using my original blade with no problems but it will be nice to get a back-up or two.

On Sale for $299.99

The Cricut Explore is on sale in various bundle combinations for $269.99, $279.99 or $299.99 on the Cricut Website - Click HERE to see the various bundles offered.  

You can also save 30% on Cricut Explore Accessories.

The images from the Destinations cartridge are available to use for free this week (July 2 - July 9, 2014).  Just log in to Cricut Design Space or Cricut CraftRoom and you will see these images included in your images this week.  This is a great set for vacation projects - I used the "Cape Cod" title for the layout I did with the New England Shore images recently (you can see that post HERE if you missed it).

Remember to use the code FREESHIP35 for free shipping in the continental US for purchases over $35.00.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July holiday weekend (for those of you in the US).  Happy (belated) Canada Day to my friends in Canada.  Now that all of our visitors are gone I will be back in the craft room and I have several projects to share.  I also haven't forgotten about some of the requests over the past few weeks - I should be able to post some of them next week.

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This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a commission. I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use or can recommend without reservation.