Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a
wonderful christmas
and I hope the new year
brings joy and
laughter to you!

Fun & Fast Gifts

This month will be a flurry of activities
and crafting time may be very limited.
But if you would like to make a
few gifts that are small, simple, and
inexpensive these may inspire you.



Wedding Favors are super cute,
but don't have be used just for weddings.
In this case I've decorated the little
tin boxes with Christmas paper and punched
out matching circles to make the
tops of the bottle cap magnets.
My Cost: $5.99 for 17 tins
{Clearance at Michael's because one was missing.}
Regular Cost: $12-16.00

The CD Ornament is my favorite.
It's fast and super simple.
My Cost: 5 for $.49
{5 for $.49 Clearance at Target}
Regular Cost: 5 for $3.00

And the easiest of them all was the
Clipboard with two strips of paper and a
wonderful die cut using the Cricut Stretch
Your Imagination Cart.
My Cost: $1.00 each
{Michael's find during the summer}

Paper was simple too!
Totally usage 3 Sheets of paper
1 card stock, 2 pattern.
Total Projects completed 8.
3 Not shown they were used
as prizes for the CD class.

I hope this has inspired you all
in more ways than one with crafty
ideas and shopping methods :).

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays.

Juju Bee's Very Merry Blog Hop Winner

Our Blog hop had a fantastic
turn out, thank you ladies!
So it's time to announce the
winner of the Chipboard stash!

Drum Roll Please!

The winner is:
Lisa808

Here's her comment:"My favorite Christmas song is It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. I like this because it gets me in the mood for decorating."

Congrats Lisa, please email me your address @ craftasticlife@hotmail.com.

Juju Bee's Very Merry Online Crop

Well, our online crop is over and I have
quite a few projects to share from the fun!

Year in Review Challenge:

Shake It Challenge:

The Thankful LO Challenge:

Shape Card Challenge:
Jamie's Card Sketch Challenges:



Oh and this dear friends was something just for fun!

Erin shared the tutorial with me and i just had to try it!

It's about 16inches in length and it's so neat!

Check it out here

Thank to all who were able to join us for this fun event.

I'll be announcing the Blog Hop RAK winner later on today.

Juju Bee's Very Merry Blog Hop!

Welcome to JuJu Bee's
A Very Merry Blog Hop & Crop!

If this is your first stop pleas go back
to the beginning at the Juju Bee's Blog to begin.

We are celebrating our 2nd Anniversary and
this Festive time of year and invite you to join
us in a journey Buzzin' through the DT's blogs.

First I'd like to show you a couple more projects
I've completed using the last month's kit.
Now that these two are done I literly
only have snippets of papet left :).




For more ideas, fun challenges, games, and prizes
please join us in the FORUM for our Online Crop.
There is so much going on and we are always looking
for some more friendly faces to join us.

Now for the goodies!
Leave a comment here telling me your
favorite christmas song and why you'll be
entered into a drawing for the RAK below.



My favorite song, hmmmm, I LOVE "I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause." I just think it's cute! But I think my all time favorite is "Pretty Paper" by Willie Nelson.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please head on
over to DT Bee Jamie's blog for your chance at
even more scrappy goodness and to
check out what she's been up to!

Using Crayola Markers as Watercoolers

I love using stamps but
coloring them in is a bit daunting.
I think I just found my
favorite way to color in stamps!
Check this out:

Here's the completed Card:

Etsy Favorites & Wish List

I was cruising Etsy the other night
and was just amazed by the wonderful
and creative items that are being sold.

Below you'll see my favorites.

House Photos...finally!

I promised them weeks ago, I know.

But today I finally got to take pictures of
the rooms that are nearly complete, which is
the main living area, living room, dinning room,
kitchen, main bathroon and my craftroom!

Ready for the tour?

Entry:
There is a LARGE arch way into the living
room and a small window like arch just to the right.

I'm super proud of these frames!
I Hung them all up on my own with this nifty
tool Justin bought me for hanging photos :).

Livingroom:There are paintings for over the book cases, but that cabinet under the window will eventually be on the wall with large fat screen tv :). So until then I'm in no hurry to hang the paintings.
Livingroom: Now you can see the window archway. Dad built us a sofa a table and it fits perfectly there. The table and the ledge are very close in hieght. Dinning Room: I was so worried that my dinning room table wasn't going to fit, but it's perfect. Thanks DAD!
Kitchen: It's cute and it's functional and it's decorated in Chefs! I'm pretty sure I can't put any more up :).

A look into the kitchen and dinning room from the hallway. The Craft Room! I LOVE Blue and just had to have the room painted this color. It's bright and fun and soothing. All the fantastic furniture dad built for us fits in perfectly and helps make it cozy.
The drawers under the desk house items like paints, inks, extra adhesives, rubberstamps, alterable items and more.
The china hutch is my favorite. I get to make it look pretty and still funtional.
Here's a look into the drawers on the china hutch.
Flowers!

Lots of Ribbon!
In the cabinets I have albums & paper punches on one side and this side is for kits and paper packs.
A peek into the corner where my scrap bags are :).
So there you have it our home in a nutshell!

Eventually the three bedrooms will be ready to have pictures taken of them, but for now they need to stay hidden. I have plans to make the master bedroom and guest room beautiful. As for the third room well, it's the hubby's craft room so you may never see it :) lol. Come spring time I'll take picture of the front and back yard. They have much work to be done.

Thanks for taking the tour.

Happy Holidays!

Groovy Deb is having..

A contest for all the DT Gals!

And I need your help to win!
PRETTY PLEASE!!

Head on over to If It's Groovy
become a Follower & leave a comment
letting Deb know I sent you.
Easy Peazy!

I know you LOVE the challenges over on If It's Groovy.

Gift card Holder Tutorial

'Tis the the season for giving.

Giftcards have become one of the main gifts this
time of year because they are so simple,
they take the guess work out of shopping and
it's been a money saver for shipping.

I understand many people think they are not
personal enough, but to me I love it, the
recipent gets what they would like and
what they would actually use.

So I was looking through and finding new ways
of making those giftcards more personal and I
found a tutorial on monkeysee.com and love it!

Here is my own take on it:

CD Notebook Tutorial

I really enjoyed making the CD Ornaments
and decided to try something different.
This is the perfect stocking stuffer!
It's inexpensive, and
doesn't take to long to create.

Please click on the photos to make larger.

Craftastic Challenge #9 Update

Hello Ladies!

The holidays are in full swing
and it's the busiest time of year.
Craftastic Challenge #9 will be
extended to Jan 15, 2010 so more
ladies can take part in the challenge.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A Very Merry Blog Hop & Crop

Yay it's Offical!

Some of the Challenges you'll be seeing:
~Gift Card Holder
~Oh Christmas Tree
~Shaped Card
~Thankful
~Year In Review

Hope so see you all there :).

If It's Groovy Dec Challenge

The challenge this month at IIG will your
skills to the test put you to the test.

What is it?
Well you have to create a LO in 30 minutes!

SO not easy!

But you can take a few steps before you begin.
~Use a Pre-designed Kit
In my case I used a 12x12 Crate Paper Kit
that included papers and punch out embellishments.
~Make sure you have a picture ready.
~Have a LO idea in mind, how you want
to set the picture and papers, ect.

Here is my take on the challenge:


That's my brother Joe, grandpa Tom & me.
I adored my grandpa and that
is one of my favorite pictures.

I hope you stop by IIG and check out the wonderful inspiration as well has participate in this month's challenge.

Just a quick Hello!

It's been a very busy two weeks.

Thanksgiving was fun! We had my BIL
Daniel with us. My parents, brother,
bil, Justin and I went out to thanksgiving
dinner and to see Planet 51! That was a
blast. Normal thanksgiving means good ol
home cooking, but none of had the time or
the mojo so eating out was perfect and to
be honest was way less expensive! And we
still got to stuff our selves with our
favorite thanksgiving dishes.

Joe left for boot on Monday.
I miss him already.

This is the last official week of school
for me so I had my math final this afternoon.
I passed, YAY! And of course I passed
Art and even more pleased to
find out I passed with an A!

I've been spending my time studying for math, and
preparing for this weekends Holiday Bazaar at the
Ethel Berger Center. I'll be taking my paper
crafts, beaded items as well as my dad's wood items.
I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures :).
Here's a little hint of what you'll find.

I just thought I would drop in say hello
remind you to take a look at this month's
challenge as well as to give you Juju Bee's news :).
Get ready because the DT Bees will be
hosting another online crop and Blog Buzz
on the weekend of the 18th.
Challenges, games and prizes oh my!

I hope you all get to join us, we'll be
celebrating the holidays as well as the
2 year anniversary of Juju Bee's.

Attention: mustangkayla

Please email me your address asap at craftasticlife@hotmail.com.
You are the winner of the Dotty Divas Blog Hop.