Like Bad Karma I'm hard to get rid of!

Ok, after fiddling with my computer for weeks and nearly booting it out the window once Windows finally corrupted so badly it wouldn't turn on, then finding out disk 2 of my restore disks was bad (NOT what you want to discover AFTER the hard drive is formatted!), I nearly gave up and decided that I was going to have to get a new computer for my upcoming birthday...BUT I have a couple of wonderful customers (many of them - actually, most of them!), so first one dear lady lent me a laptop she wasn't using, and then another happened to have a nearly identical model to my lappy, and let me make a copy of her restore disks! Those disks finally worked, but I still had to load the second disk in the slot 10-15 times before it finally worked...not sure about why that was but at this point - I DON'T CARE!!! I'm just glad it's back, for now at least, and I can ask for something else for my birthday! ;)

I still hadn't gotten much done crafting wise, but I've been doing a lot of blog hopping to try to get some ideas for Christmas...yes, my name is Karma and I'm a procrastinator! I know many folks already have theirs completed or nearly so, but I'm not that person! ;)

Here's one really cute idea for a ribbon wreath I just ran across tonight. I made a couple of them, a picture is below....really a cute and easy idea, although they look so complicated! I had to use ribbon I already had on hand, so don't judge me! ;) I actually did the bigger one first. It's made with the same see-through metallic ribbon as the bow on it is, about 5/8ths" wide. The small one is made with more of a regular 1/4" ribbon, with a picot type edging on the side. It seems to lay flatter and wasn't so finicky to put together as the metallic stuff. The metallic one is kind of bulky to put on a card, but it's so pretty in person! It's very much more 3 dimensional than the ribbon one is, since the metal holds it stiff and it's shapable, and would be a beautiful package or tree decoration. They don't take very long to make, either. (I also got to use another technique that's new to me to make the perfect bow...just make two bunny ears and do an overhand knot with them. Perfect everytime! Although mine seem to come out umop episdn!) ;) I think this would be a cool idea if the wreaths were made with the large bow ribbon you can find this time of year...but I don't know how many rolls you'd need! It would be beautiful hanging on a door, though!

Take a look at the rest of her blog, too, it's so cute and has a lot of free digital stamps, if you're into that.

I've also been looking at sliceforms lately...I just love them and I'm determined to make one this holiday season. (See some amazing ones here. I believe I got the link from Carol's blog, linked below...and she's mentioned TWICE on that link! Congrats!)

I got a really cute card last year with Tinkerbell and a dangly sliceform snowflake inside...I love it and darned if I'm not going to try to reverse engineer it! Speaking of sliceforms, now I HAVE to mention Carols blog - Extreme Cards and Papercrafting. She's my hero! Well, one of 'em! I just love what she does with paper though!

One part of her blog that I really enjoyed was the page showing her Christmas cards through the years and how they evolved - not to mention seeing her kids growing up! Really cool. Visit here. Make sure you click on each picture to see the cards, inside and out. I love her sense of humor! I wish I could be so original and clever!

Another great post was the tutorial for her 3d popup sliceform Christmas tree. I was also really inspired by her 3d pop gingerbread house tutorial! What a cool card for someone special! And just imagine how you could decorate the little house! I think that's my favorite on her blog! Of course I haven't seen her WHOLE blog yet! :)

But my absolute favorite Christmas card/book out there has to be this one, from BugJunkie! I had never seen such an original and charming book made with the Cricut before! My apologies if you saw it on the Chirp already (for some reason I never get mine, although I signed up for it!), but even so, it's worth another look! From the reindeer on the roof to Santa peeking out from behind the tree, it's just amazing! If I can just stop LOOKING at cards, maybe I can make this one to send as a card! I think I have most of the cartridges she used....I bought A Childs Year because of this card! Thank goodness our Xmas card list isn't TOO big...I might still have time!

Oh, one more blog I saw that had some great ideas...Hog Wild About Stamping! She's the one that had the first video I saw on making your own "Flower Fluff Stuff" that my Yahoo! groups been raving about lately. Well, she has some other fantastic ideas and one in particular caught my eye. Nothing to do with Christmas but if you have a lot of ribbon, her idea can definitely be converted to use with SCAL and the Cricut! Read about it halfway down this post. Another adorable idea she had was a card that flings confetti on the recipient when they open it! LOVE IT! (When I use punches on cards, I always throw the recognizable snips (hearts, etc) in my envelopes so it gets all over their floor) =) Of course the idea can be adapted for a Christmas card!

I'm more of a crafter than a scrapbooker and many of you may already know this tip she has for making a die cut machine not cut the entire design out, but I didn't know! SO smart! And one final idea from her blog that I loved was a flip out card...you open it and a section pops out from the side or top. Really easy to configure for a lot of different types of cards!

I suggest you do a search for the word "tutorial" on her site...too many good ideas to list here, for sure! Make sure you check out the photo that has two sides on the front, for instance! I'm thinking of trying that one out with a shredder! Yes, not only am I a procrastinator, I'm lazy! Of course my Cricut could do the cutting...

Okay, I had to get a post out there, but enough's enough! I have to take my own advice and get off the computer and GO CUT SOMETHING! Although first I still have to reinstall so many programs, SCAL and DS amongst them!

Must....hang...up...now.....BYE! Happy Cutting!