Veteran's Day Freebies!!!

For all of you veterans and active military out there, here is a link to places that are offering free things just for you!!

http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/veterans-day-freebies-discounts-2011

Thank you for your sacrifices and all you do so we can be free.

Have a great day!!

Weigh In....

Well, I didn't have a great week but I did lose 2 lbs. and 5.2 inches. I lost 3.2 lbs. just in 1 day with my cleanse day! That is great! This next week will be much better! ;)

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Weight Loss Tools

I have begun the weight loss journey.....once again....and need some motivation. So, I am posting this weight loss ticker!! Now, you can follow my weight loss journey too! I have lost about 15 lbs. on my way to losing close to 100 lbs!! Wow!! I can't believe I am saying it out loud!! I need to lose close to 100 lbs.!! I can't believe I have let myself get this far away from a healthy weight! I always said, "I will never let myself get overweight! I will be a fit mom! I will be a wife my husband is proud to show off." Well, needless to say, I didn't stick to any of that. I did lose 60 lbs. about 1.5 years ago and then got pregnant with baby Garrison.....gained it all back plus a little extra!! However, I am ready to start losing again and gain a healthier me!! What I need from you? Lots and lots of motivation and encouragement PLEASE!!!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Hi there.....

Hey to all of you out there in Cyber Land! I know..... I know..... it has been a super long time since I have posted on my blog! I apologize for that! I have let life get in the way. I plan to post something of substance in the near future! So....... stay tuned!!!

"Holly-Lou's Paper Parties....and More" photo shoot prep...

Here are the products I have been working on for "Holly-Lou's Paper Parties....and More" photo shoot. I made things for a "Super Hero" boys birthday party theme. I made a candy stick, cupcake wrapper, cupcake topper, sour cream candy holder, invitation, thank you card, a mask for kids to wear on their face, and tags for the candy sticks and sour cream containers. Everything turned out so cute!

Melissa made a "Princess" themed birthday party for a girl. I made candy the sticks and tags, the crown for little girls to wear on their head, the cupcake wrapper, and the cupcake topper. She doesn't have the same cartridges I have so I made these to go with her theme. These turned out super cute too!

Melissa also made baby shower products and I made a cupcake wrapper and a cupcake topper to go with what she made. She had bubbles in her theme and the cupcake wrapper turned out perfect! It looks like bubbles! She also had duckies so the topper fits perfect too! She doesn't have the same Cricut cartridges I have and that is why I made these. These turned out so cute!

Thank you's....

Here are the thank you's I made for the guests that came to the boys' birthday party.

Here are the Christmas thank you's I made. I know, I know. I am way late with these but better late then never! Right?

Valentine's Day Favors....

These are some Valentine's favors I made for my son's preschool class. I used a small fry box for a template and made them out of cardstock. I then covered them with Valentine paper. I filled them with a mini notebook I decorated, a pencil, a sucker I made a paper covering for and a candy stick filled with m & m's. I made sixteen of them and they were my first attempt. They turned out so cute!!

Here are individual pics of each item as well as pics of them all put together!

Candy Sticks

Suckers with Wrappers

Notebooks - I made a girls one and a boys one. I was in such a hurry I wasn't able to get a pic of the girls' one. Oh well. Here are pics of some of the boy ones. I didn't get pics of all the patterns.

Here are the kids' favors all put together.

I made the gable boxes for his teachers. I made them out of cardstock and then covered them with Valentine paper as well. These were so much fun! I loved the way they turned out! This was the first time I attempted these too and I love them!! I will definitely be making more of these in the future! If I wasn't in such a time crunch, I would have decorated them more. As it was, I was running out the door ten minutes late for his preschool class!!

Life.....

Wow! I can't believe it has been three weeks since my last post!! Life has been busy, busy, busy!! My cousin and I are trying to launch our new business!! We are marketing paper products such as party favors, party decorations, glass etching, gifts and more!! We have chosen "Holly-Lou's Paper Parties.....and More" for our name!! I am so excited!! Needless to say, this has taken up most of my time and my family and house have taken up the rest! I have been working on products for our photo shoot. Melissa, my cousin, has a friend who is a photographer and she agreed to take some photos of our products for our business cards and blog! I know they are going to turn out great!! We have our first bazaar coming up the weekend of March 20th. We also have our first event which we are coordinating and making things for the weekend after that! So, life has been tremendously hectic and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down!! And now everyone is sick!!

Pink Patches Giveaway!!

www.patchesofpink.com is hosting a blog giveaway!! She is celebrating the one year anniversary of her blog by giving away "Create a Critter" Cricut cartridge!! So, head on over to her blog for details!!

Birthday Party Decorations and Favors.....

Here are some b-day party decorations and favors I made for my two oldest sons' b-day party. I did an owl and stars theme. I made two small banners, decorated three buckets, three signs to go inside the buckets, sour cream favors, tags for the sour cream favors, cupcake toppers, gift bags for the kids and a centerpiece out of a spool that once held tool. The centerpiece had an owl with a party hat and it was "holding" a sign that said, "Hoot Hoot Hooray". I used clothespins to make the owl "hold" the sign. It was double sided. The signs were also double sided. Everything turned out so cute! We did a combo party this time around. The kids had a blast at Chuckie E. Cheese's! I felt a little funny setting all of this up at Chuckie E. Cheese's. I felt like everyone was staring at me! But all of our guests were impressed with the fact that I made all of it so that made me feel good. :)

Crafting!! Crafting!! and more Crafting!!

Here is my latest challenge entry. It is for the Fantabulous Cricut website: http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenge%20Me%20Monday
I made a birthday card for my sweet sister's upcoming birthday. The challenge was to create a craft with an image of something "sweet" on it using your Cricut. I have wanted to do something with a cupcake on it for a while now. So, I thought, "I will make my sweet sister something sweet for her birthday!" I made this cupcake using the "Celebrations" Cricut cartridge. The cherry on top is from "Sweet Treats" cartridge. I used by "Big Bite" for the first time and inserted four eyelets in each corner to lace the ribbon around the card. Wow! I am so glad I purchased this! And at 50% off! I laced the ribbon through the "wrapper" of the cupcake because I wanted the ribbon to still show where the cupcake needed to go. I used the "Alphalicious" cartridge for the scalloped oval as well as the plain oval. I used my new texture tool to give the background heart paper some texture. It kind of looks like sprinkles to me. Fitting huh?! :)
I stamped the design on the oval and the saying "hello cupcake". I used paper from "The Sweet Stack", ribbon, eyelets, printed paper, glitter paper, shimmer paper, clear stamps, black ink and of course, adhesive. I hope you enjoyed my latest creation. Thanks for visiting!!

Here are some mini notebooks I covered. I did one with an ice cream cone that says "sprinkled with fun" and one with a cute turtle that says "explore". I realized that I didn't do it correctly (so that the ends of the paper won't start to peel up off of the edges) so I will be making some new ones. Aren't they cute?!!

Oh!! This card turned out so cute!! I created a card for my pink stamper.com blog hop! We were to create a card, scrapbook page, or something fun by using either "The Pink Stamper" stamps or using the color pink. Greyson (my 4 almost 5 year old) was my inspiration for this latest creation. He has been into skunks lately. So, I thought a skunk on a Valentine's Day card would be cute. I like how the paper with the clouds looks like the skunk's puffs of stink! :) I was trying to come up with a saying that would go with a skunk and I came up with "I stink you're sweet". Heee Heee....I love it!

Recipe:
Cricut Cartridte Live Simply
Glitter Paper from Michael's
Glitter Glue (I am not sure where I got it; either Michael's or Joann's)
Paper from Michael's
Martha Stewart border punch from Michael's
Ribbon from Joann's Dollar Deals
Push-up Dots from Craft Warehouse
Letter Stickers from Craft Warehouse

This is an invitation I made for my sons birthday party. It didn't turn out exactly how I pictured but it is still cute. After 3 attempts I was getting a little frustrated! ;) I am going with an "owl and stars" theme. We are combining their parties this year. My oldest son's (turned 7) first party was cancelled due to weather and now it is getting too close to our middle son's (turning 5) so, we decided to do them together.

Oh, how I love doing crafts!!  My loving, sweet husband surprised me in a huge way this Christmas!!  I un-wrapped a Cricut!!!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I burst into tears!  I was overcome with joy and emotion!  I have wanted one for so long!  Ever since I saw it on an "infomercial" years ago and drooled over it! Lol!!  So, I have been busy, busy, busy crafting!!  I did a "Me Board" for my son's pre-school and oh my!  It turned out so cute!  His teacher even gave a little gasp when she saw it! (Giggle) That made me smile.  I love my husband so much for making me feel so special!!  And I love my Cricut!!  I will post pics of my projects soon so stay tuned!!

Here is a more recent project I have done. This is a "Me Board" that my son and I made for his pre-school. He likes crafting with me. :) He drew the banana and cut it out. He also picked out the train for my cricut to cut out. He is so funny! He has a thing with skunks lately. He wanted me to put on his board that "he wants to be a skunk so he can spray everybody"! Ha! Ha! This is the first project I did with my cricut! Hope you like it!

Here are some projects I have done.
These are "Birthday Cakes" I did for my neices. I made the tutus out of tule and ribbon. The "cake" is made out of cardstock. These were a challenge but I think they turned out wonderful! I had a blast creating them! And my neices loved them! They would have been so much better if I would have had my Cricut then! -wink

Here is my first "Birthday Cake" I made. It has an actual dress for the skirt. I just tucked the top of it up inside. There is a purse I folded and pinned in place on top. This was for a very sweet little girl named Abby. We have been friends with her family for a long time. She calls me "Auntie Kasia" :)

Here are some pics of projects I completed many years ago. I created these for Craft Warehouse's Contest to be on their Design Team. Wow! I think it was almost 4 years ago! I really liked how these turned out. I wish I had them but they kept all entries :(

These first two pictures are of a card I made. I wrapped the card in a sheer material I had. I made a flap closure. It was fun and time consuming. This was my first time trying to make anything so extensive.

The third pic is of two scrapbook pages I made. The baby is Greyson. I really, really wish I had these back! But I am so happy I took pictures of them! I am going to try to replicate them. I was going with a "nature" theme. I used pine cone pieces, feathers and neutral colors. I love the design so much!

This fourth pic is another page I did! It was "summer fun".

This fifth picture is another page I made of Gage and Greyson.

This is another card I made. I used an actual jean pocket. It was fun to expirement with!