Santa delivered this year...

Boy 7 a.m. sure came awfully early this morning! Its back to the daily grind after a wonderful Christmas and New Year's spent with my family. The girls are having fun exploring my new Cricut Expression that Santa delivered. My oldest would cut shapes all day long if I let her. I let them choose whatever they wanted to cut out and we did two little projects which are now proudly displayed on our fridge. I have alot to learn on this new machine, but I will add that it is pretty easy to get started. All the machines come with a wonderful "how-to" dvd which explains all the functions and options. I think its pretty neat that each cartridge comes with a rubber keypad overlay...notice how the keys are blank on this photo? You just add a cartridge and coordinating keypad and cut away. You will be addicted too:) These were some fun notebooks I made for a Relay 4 Life fundraiser. I cut a double matte "hope" and popped them up with 3-d dimensionals. The flowers are prima and Hobby Lobby(I rubbed my Aloe Vera Dew Drop over the large one so it would match) brands.
To cut out "hope" I loaded up my paper in the Cricut and cut them at 2" and 1 3/4" so that I could have a slight shadow of the wording. There is a small pc screen on the machine that allows you to see what will be cut, so you can always adjust and make changes before cutting. I wanted to add some "pop" to this image so I rubbed Dew Drop-Pearlescent Lavendar all over SU! Lovely Lilac cs. Although the shimmer is very subtle in person, it really helps the wording stand out.
These purse calendars were made for my sister who is getting together with her support group, Meningioma Mommas. A few of the gals are getting together and she wanted something to give them. The colors are from their theme and I added the SU! certainly celery to help balance out the purple and silver. The "mm" was cut with my Cricut and I kept the lettering the same size, 1 1/2 " on this.
The Cricut also allows you to cut scalloped frames which I tried for this project, but I ended up going with a simple Marvy Punch Square Scallop instead.
I'm excited to see what this year will bring for my family. I do know one thing....I'm going to be an Auntie again!!! My twin sister is due in July with baby #2. We are praying for a healthy baby and Mommy...this is the sister who had a massive brain tumor removed last February. She has had a few seizures this year and a recent one just last week. Her meds have been changed due to the pregnancy and from her ultrasounds everything looks healthy so far. Please keep her and their family in your thoughts.