Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a enjoyable New Years. We are just going to stay home and watch the fireworks from our bedroom windows. Everyone shoots off fireworks here. The valley is usually covered in smog and smoke by the time they are done.
My resolution this year is to finally get to wear my size 12 pants. I also want to start and finish the cookbooks I have promised everyone for years!! I think we have finally realized that we will not be out of here till the end of this tour. But Dave will still be putting in for some selective positions if he finds one he likes.


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

New Layout

Good Evening. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas. I think I have all my shopping done for hubby. I just need to make a trip down to the post office on Friday as both of us are waiting on a gift for each other.
Here are a couple pictures of me at the top of Zugspitze in Garmisch, Germany. It was white out conditions the day we went up there. I was a little bit disappointed that we did not get the great views but I still had a blast! I love winter.







I also worked on a couple of scrapbook pages while being snowed in here. We have had sooo much snow here this past week. One day we woke up to a foot and a half of it on top of what was there.
Here are a couple of pics of that at my house.







Here are the pictures of the pages I worked on





They are of a couple of photos I took the first time we lived here in Germany. I loved the door. It made me think of a hobbit door.

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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

De's blog candy

De, if you are reading this I just mailed your bog candy. Sorry it took so long to get it mailed but life just seems to get in the way sometimes. lol


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garmisch/home

Wow! It has been snowing here all day yesterday and it is still snowing this morning!!!! Heavy!
I am up early because we are doing a trip to the swarovski crystal house today. Need to be ready by 8:30.
I had a great time yesterday going up to the zugspitze.
-----------------------
I never had a chance to finish that post while up in Garmisch. I will post more about it later and add a bunch of photos.
I just wanted to post a card I made today. I used my imagine for all of it except the text. Think it turned out really cute.







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Location:Kreuzeckbahnstraße,Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany

Morning!

Well, we. made it ok yesterday afternoon. The roads were pretty clear up until you pass through the tunnel leading from Switzerland. I saw snow on the sides of the roads all the way to here. Some was heavier than others. It is so pretty here. I am sitting here eating breakfast and watching it gently snow out the windows. We were able to upgrade our room to a junior sweet. It is huge and has a great view of the mountains. The darn room has two bathrooms!!! lol We are planning on doing the round trip ride to the Zugspitze and back today. That should be a awesome trip.
Well, need to get back to the room and get stuff together. More later. ((((hugs)))))


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Location:Gernackerstraße,Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany

Scary drive home

Wow!!!! That was a hair raising drive home tonight. It snowed last night about 4", by morning it was really icey as well. To get to work we had to de ice the car. Down the mountain all day today it rained. But as we started up the mountain this evening it changed to nasty wet snow. About a couple of miles from the house we were following behind a bus around a windy road, it started to slip, and skid around the corner. So since we were having to slow down we also started to slip and skid. I was certain he was going to put the bus on it's side in the ditch. But to my surprise he pulled it out. We put the FJ into 4 wheel drive and managed to go on about a mile. As we were going up another hill to get to the house we came upon a car stopped in the middle of the road on the uphill side!!! So we started to skid backwards because we had to stop, but were not stopping!!! It was at a 4 way intersection so there were cars all over the place slipping and skidding. You could hear the wheels spinning going wzzzzzzzz because they were trying to get traction. But thank goodness we made it home ok. The salt trucks had not been out yet obviously. We are supposed to get another 2-4" on top of the 4" that is already on the ground.
And it is STILL snowing! Dave has been out twice to shovel off the back porch so the dogs can go out. At this rate Dave is not going in to work tomorrow.
I went into work with him today so I could go get my nails done. First time I have had tips put on in years. I had French tips put on and on each pinky finger she drew a tiny white flower and put a pink jewel in the center. They look pretty!!! lol I also found some cuddl duds and some nice thick gloves.I could not find a wicking base layer of pants any where!!! I look every where I could find. Dave got himself a av reciever for the TV and speakers in the living room.


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Relaxing

Good Evening. I am finally sitting down after a busy weekend. We got up this weekend and took the car down to the car wash, to wash off all the salts that they put on the roads in the winter. We drove back home in a block of ice!!! haha The water froze on the car after we washed it. We then went to a Christmas market in Limburg. It was a small market very nicely put together. We had a great day. I had currywurst and French fries there for lunch. I was kicking myself all day though. I forgot to put my memory card in my camera. I have never done that before. It is usually my husband who does that. I managed to pick up a few stocking stuffers while there. I also found some red and green cardstock in a store called Kardstadt.

Dave dropped the packages into the mail on Friday. We spent $160.00 on shipping for all of them!!!!!

Today I cleaned house most of the day. Tonight I made hamburger stew for dinner. It was really good.

We have a lot to do this week to get ready for our trip to Garmisch on Saturday. Wednesday I have an appointment to get my nails done. I am also going to stop by the sports store on base and see if they have any base layer pants and socks. I do not have any and would like some to wear while up there. Thursday I have to make sure all the laundry is done. Friday I need to pack. I hope our new suitcases are here by then. We also have to drop the dogs off at the kennel. Then I want to pack the car that night so Saturday we are not running around like chickens with our heads cut off!!! haha. I need to assemble all my camera gear and my net book, so I can download my pics to it. I will also take my iPad.

I am posting a couple of pics from the Christmas market on Saturday.



It was really cold. I sure look like the pilsbury dough girl!!!! haha




I really like Limburg as it still has the old timber style buildings in the old town section. They are all leaning this way and that.






This is the old original church. It is sooo pretty.








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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Christmas tree lights

Ugh!!! I just spent an hour and a half fiddling with the lights for the tree. I could not figure out how to get a closed loop of lights wrapped around the darn tree. I had them wrapped around me, the tree, the dogs and anything else that got in my way. I kept thinking of the cartoons where the dad is trying to light the tree and ends up in a tangle!!! lol Plus the tree is 7' tall!!! I could not reach the top. I will have to wait till Dave gets home from work to figure out the tree.
Guess I will go and work on some scrap stuff. THAT I can do. ha ha


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Time

Dang! It is hard to believe that it is the 1st of December. What the heck happened to the year? Seems that it was just summer a couple of weeks ago and BOOM we are in Winter and looking at years end. I have really missed my boys this year. This was a year of sadness and a few laughs. I lost someone precious to me. But it also enabled me to realize that I do have a great family.

I started getting out and assembling all my Christmas decorations. Dave helped me to put the tree together and pull down a few Christmas boxes. Now I plan on decorating the tree and getting everything else set up. This is my favorite time of the year. Just sitting here looking at my Christmas decoration boxes, some of them have 2,3 and sometimes 4 moving stickers on them. They have followed me around the world and back!

We usually are the ones to supply stocking stuffers for my mother in law and kids back in the states. We are so behind on that. I need to scrounge the house to see what I have that I can use to at least fill my MIL's stocking. We will send money to each of the boys to get each other stocking stuffers.

I am going to find some time to do some crafting today. I was too busy yesterday cleaning, doing laundry, and addressing Christmas cards. Not sure what I will work on but I will try to find sone time to play down there. I might play with my new corner punches from Kreaxions. Found them at the Christmas market we went to this past weekend.


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Good afternoon

I spent the day watching it snow. I bet we have 5" on the ground. Both hubby and I have been out twice sweeping and shoveling the walkway and 20 stairs!!! Ugh... And it is still snowing. Supposed to snow all week here.
I had to get up early this morning and go in with Dave. Piper had to go into the groomers and get cleaned up. He really needed it. I sat in the car for about a hour and a half waiting for the bookstore and the px to open. I picked up a couple of new Photoshop magazines in the bookstore. I then wandered into the px and found Dave a Christmas present. He has been collecting Mickey Mouse stuff for years. I found a Jim Shore Mickey Mouse carving for him.
I also worked in my scrap room and made a couple of scrapbook pages. They were taken as we were moving out of Hawaii and visited Diamond Head. I used the Imagine and my storybook cartridge to cut out the text. I also used Paper Doll Dress Up for the people and the palm tree and island.









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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

On the way!!!

Well, we are in the bus on our way to the Netherlands and Belgium. It is snowy out today. The temp on the bus says it is -1c outside!!! Everything looks really pretty outside. I love going to the Christmas markets. This is one of my favorite times during the year. The evergreen pines with the snow laying gently on the branches, the wonderful smells, and sights. Winter seems to have hit early this year. Last year we did not see snow until into the middle of Janurary.
The sun is just starting to come up. It is really pretty as it hits the new fallen snow. All the cars on the road have their snow blankets on the top of the roofs. I like when you look across the valley and all the hills and valleys are coveted in snow. It so makes me think of the holidays.
I have my camera with me and promise to get a bunch of photos to post.
Everyone have a great day!


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Location:Windhagen,Germany

Snow!!!!

Hey it is snowing!!! Our first snowfall of the season. Well, it is just a wintery mix. But it does have snowflakes mixed in with it. It will not stick there ground is too wet. Just had to announce it. hahaha


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Blog Candy Winner!!!!

I finally got around to getting my husband to draw a name for the blog candy......drumroll......De has won my blog candy give away. If you will contact me with your shipping info I will get these in the mail. Congrats!!! Hope you enjoy them.


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

New Cards

Well, I managed to get my imagine understood to get a couple of cards made today. I also spent most of the day cleaning up my scrap room. I have ADD and I lose things really easy. It drives me nuts. So I needed to clean things up a bit. If I lay something down for a minute and then come back to it, I have no idea what I did with it. Or if I am trying to work on something I get distracted and sidetracked really easy. I sometimes just catch myself staring into space not doing anything. I am on some meds but I do not think they are working as well. I think I need to get them changed. 
But here are my two cards that I finished today. 

I will have to post the second one in a few minutes. I am having some problems
Well here is the second card I made.

- Recipe
Cuts - Nursery Tails
Gems - e. prima
Ribbon - my stash
Stamp - My Pink Stamper


  
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Not feeling good

Good Evening. Well looks like I will not be giving away my blog candy tonight. I am so sick.
Well, hello again. Did not get this blog post finished last night. I was not feeling good yesterday. My monthly monster came to visit and I was hurting really bad for about two days. Advil liquid gels and hot towels heated in the microwave helped after about two days. Yuck!!! Seems like it is getting worse each month.
I am sitting in the car right now waiting for 8:30 to come so I can take Piper to the groomers. I have to ride in with Dave because we only have the one car. But it is down right chilly. We should see snow either late tonight or sometime tomorrow. Garmisch finally got snow!!!! And it is supposed to snow there all this week. I have some live webcams I look at for pics there. This is the link if yup would like to look.
http://www.wetter.com/webcams_galerien/webcams/webcam_ansicht/?wid=33174
This is what the shopping street in Garmish looked like this morning. Not much snow but hopefully more by the time I get up there on the 11th.






This is a photo of the Zuigspitz this morning! It is usually very beautiful scene. Lol Looks like it is having a snow storm at the moment. The Zuigspitz is the highest mountain in Germany. I am hoping to go skiing there while I am in Garmisch. The wires that you see are the ski lifts.






But now back to scrapping. Here are a couple of cards I did get finished this weekend.





Recipe
embossing folder Cricut
Snowflakes from my stash






Recipe
Everything is from my stash.
Here is a digital scrapbook page I did as well.






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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Hello

Hey there, it has been a few days since I last posted. I haven playing with my new Imagine. I have had a blast! It sure is a neat machine. I know I will enjoy playing with my Ecraft when they get the software updated. That is supposed to happen this Friday. I hope so. I have a few new cards that I have made that I will post pics of tomorrow. I want to hook my gypsy up to my imagine but I have no idea what the cable ends look like so I can do that. Lol Can anyone help me?
I ordered the old version of YourStory. I wanted something that would laminate and bind books. I want to make some cookbooks for family. I also ordered the scorpal and scorbuddy.
What has everyone else been working on? I would love to work on some other kinds of paper crafts but I do not know what I would do with it once I am done. I do not have any friends local here and family is all back in the US. I am not having a pity party, I just have no idea what I would do with it. lol
It is getting chilly here. Snow is in the forecast in 4 days. But I doubt that we will see any yet.


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

It finally arrived!!!

Yippie!!!! I finally received my Imagine after a two month wait!!! I have it all set up and hopefully ready to use tomorrow. But I need to finish the 3 Christmas cards I was working on today but did not get finished. haha I am soooo pleased to finally get my toy. I also recieved the two new mats for my silhouette. Now I need to watch all the YouTube videos I can find for it.


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More cards and Blog Candy

I have been busy this weekend playing in my scrap room. Here are three more cards.
Also if you leave a comment you will be entered into the blog candy give away I am holding. I have a ton of stuff I have been saving for things like this so keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of months. This blog candy give away will include: a Spellbinder Impressabilities - Fleur De
Lis Pattern and a Ek Success edger punch - Petals. I will leave this open for a week. All you have to do is leave a comment on each day that I post. Then I will use the random number generator to pull the number of the winner. But you HAVE to leave a comment on each day I post this week. The drawing will end at 6pm my time on Sunday. I am in Germany as you know.
Ok here are the cards I did today with the recipe.



-Recipe
Teal card blank- ?
Fushia colored Fibers - The Paper Studio
Christmas Text - Holiday Time Sticker - Walmart
Gems - e. Prima
Purple Card Stock - Basis
Cuts - When Its Cold Outside Cricut
Glitter - Sugar Coating - Lily White Glitter



Recipe
Cuts - Lacey Labels Cricut
Prima Flowers
Value Pack Card Blank
Bazzil Basis Card Stock - Pink
Prima Fairy Flora Paper



Recipe:
Value Card Blank
Prima Flowers
Green Card Stock - Me & My Big Ideas Paper Pack
Orange Card Stock - Colormates
Embossing Folder - Spring Flowers & Paisley - Sizzex - Stampin' Up
Gems - e. Prima
Inked Edges - Encore! Ultimate Metallic - Bronze
Cuts - Lacey Labels Cricut


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Scrapbook Page Layout

Here is a page that I worked on today. It was of a trip my husband and I took to Darmstadt, Germany a few years ago. I would love to hear your thoughts about it.



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Cards

Good evening. I hope everyone's weekend is going as planned. I managed to get a few things done these past few days. I had a dr.s appt on Friday to pick up a prescription. After that I had an appointment for a hair cut and root touch up. I had it cut in a new style. It is a short bob that is stacked in the back and in the front there are whispy bits each side. It looks really cute. We then went shopping to pick up my niece's christmas gifts. I got the two eldest girls a Barbie doll and a couple of cute outfits, the youngest I got her a really cute baby doll. I am going to get the two boys a gift card each as I have no idea what to get them. I did not get any crafting done that night though.
Today, I managed to get a couple loads of laundry done. I also got a couple of cute cards done. I will post photos of them later tonight. I also ordered a few things I had been looking at for a while. I did a search and found a YourStory bundle priced pretty good. I bought it at a site that is called www.webstore.com I paid $40.00 for the whole bundle. thought that was pretty good. I also got a bunch of scor pal products. I think that will be all my shopping for a while. haha


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Veteran's Day

I did not get the surprise ready to post today. Sorry. I did managed to get all the cards I was working on finished today. I received two packages in the mail yesterday. One was a order I made from www.cutterscreek.com I got the American Crafts foil card stock, shimmer paint, 2 6 x 6 paper stacks, my free card for my ecraft cutter. I also received one of the two Imagine carts that I ordered from www.memorymiser.com I was not too pleased they had me waiting on the two carts for nearly a month and a half. I called them last night to find out why I had not received both of them and they told me that the second one had not been shipped to them yet. I just happened to receive a email from them this morning stating that they just got notification that they would be shipped to them this week. That is just kinda hanky. I called about the cart that I did receive and they told me the exact same thing. So that just seems kinda fishy.


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Frustrated

I am so frustrated!!! I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out why my post your comments button is not showing up at the bottom of each post. I know some HTML coding but only enough to get myself into trouble!!! I was ready to toss the whole pc out the window. grrrr
But, I did get all my cards stamped and heat embossed on the inside. I also managed to assemble about half of them. I do not have any new cards or layouts to post today. But maybe tomorrow I will. Have a good evening.

Well I just looked and that button is there. Yippie!!! Now I can also post that I will have a surprise to post here tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled.


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Changes and more cards

I had a fairly busy weekend. I managed to get all the pieces cut out for my Christmas cards that I am going to send out. I also want to buy flat, wooden Christmas decoration to attach to the inside of each one. I thought that would be a cool idea.
I will also post a picture here of a recipe card I made for a swap I am in.
I also did some actual scrapbook pages this weekend. I have not done any of that in a couple of years.
Brrrrr...it is cold here today. I think our high was 37. But we are supposed to warm up to about 45 by mid week.
A funny thing happened to me on Saturday. I gave my Mum a call we were talking for a few minutes when her friend decided she wanted to leave, mum said I am going to put the phone down to see her out. Well, I then heard my sister in law and my niece come in. They must have sat down at the table to talk for a few minutes. I heard her singing a cute song about pumpkins with my niece, talking to my sister in law about a fender bender she had been in, all the while I am whistling and saying "Mum,mum,mum" lol She had put the phone down and forgot she was talking to me. I sat on the phone for about 10 mins listening to her talk thinking that she will remember that she laid the phone down. Nope!! Lol So I hung up, watched a couple of tv shows, then tried to call her back, it was STILL busy!!! So I looked for my address book with all my phone numbers that were in it. Could not find it. Grrrr Had to get on the net and look up my friends phone number so she could call my mums cell phone. She did that and found out that my mum was not even at home! She had gone out to hobby lobby to get some wool that was on sale. Lol Ditzy mother!!!!



Recipe
Cut file from Paperthreads
Assorted stickles
Cardstock: white Stardream, dark red-stardream,the rest is Basis?
Ran all the elements through my Xyron to make it easier for attaching to the card



Recipe
Pie cut file: silhouette card stock - stardream, card shape, used glossy accents to attach Martha Stewart micro beads- silhouette, card stock from my stash. I did a print and cut with the actual recipe card, flourish from Silhouette, card was inked using momento ink
Santa - digital scrapbook element printed and cut with my silhouette,red stickles added to his hat,
Stickers - my stash







This is a pretty village in england.
I used the Storybook cart for the font and the flourish
The mats were made with the Martha Stewart border buck and corner edger
Hope you like what I have done.

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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Busy

I have been busy today. I managed to get all the laundry done. I also cut out all the pieces for my Christmas cards. That means I cut out 20 of everything!!! That took nearly all day. Plus I wore out my mat for the silhouette. Thank goodness I have a couple more ordered. I have been using that one for over a year!!!!
I also managed to get a few cards made.



Recipe: generic card blank
Purple stardream paper
Cut file: Paperthreads
Pearls: Prima
Yellow Stickles



Recipe: generic blank card form
Yellow stardream paper
Pink flower: my stash
Colored balls: Martha Stewart Micro Glass Beads

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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Cards worked on

I was yet again trying to figure out how to work with my ecraft. I thought that I had it yesterday. But started trying to cut stuff out and it started to tear the paper again. I am not going to give up with it yet. Haha I am seriously hoping that the new update with the software will help out with a lot of my problems.
I then went back to using my baby bug and the new make the cut software. I cut out a few really neat cards with files I had bought from www.paperthreads.com Their prices are pretty good. And the files seem to be clean and easy to cut. I also surfed the net for Simeon more different .svg files to buy. I found a bunch on several different sites. I will post their addresses in the next day or so.
I also finally broke down and paid for a six month subscription to the new Cricut magazine put out by
Here are some cards that I have been working on the past few days. I will try to list the recipe for each one.






Recipe: Background Paper: Die Cuts With A View Winter Glitter Stack
Stickers: my stash
Border Punch : Martha Stewart







Recipe: purple background paper - stardream
Patterned paper - my stash
Stickers - my stash







Recipe - purple cardstock - stardream
Blue cardstock - my stash cut with my silhouette
Stickers - dragonfly my stash sentiments - Sticker King







Recipe:
Yellow Cardstock my stash
Purple paper - stardream
Pink paper - stardream
Dragon - cut file from www.myscrapchick.com
Ink - Momento
Pearls - Prima







Recipe: pink card stock - starddream
Striped paper - my stash
Nestability die
Fairy Godmother - www.myscrapchick.com
Stickers - my stash







Recipe: purple and green card stock -
Die cuts - files from Lettering Delights
Gems - Prima







Recipe: Pink and White cardstock - stardream
Gems- Prima
Sticker- my stash

If anyone has any questions please email me at merkger04@yahoo.com

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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Ecraft

Well after spending the day trying to figure out the new cutter and software, I think I might have it figured out. I wasted a ton of paper trying to figure out the settings. I found that most papers need a cardstock stabilizer. I hope when they send out the new update later this month it will clear up a lot of the problems that the cutting software has. I managed to cut a few cards with some thin paper. I want to they to see if it will cut my star dream card stock. None of my other cutters has been able to. It is so thick. But it is only 8 1/2 x11 size paper. I am not sure if the ecraft can cut that. I think it can I just need to figure it out.

I just got a few pics of my nieces in their Halloween costumes. They all went as southern belles. They were so adorable. I will include some pics of them.



This Chloe...she is my biological niece. She is such a sweetheart.



This is Haley. She is my brother's girlfriend's oldest daughter.



And this is Chessa the youngest girl.
They are all super cute!!! Can you tell I am a proud Aunty???? Haha


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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany

Hello after a long time

Good morning! This is the first time I have posted in a longggg time. I hope to try to keep this updated more often.

I just received my new Ecraft cutter. I think I am going to like it. It cuts 12 x 12 paper and I can use the included software to import my .svg files and cut them. Yippie!!! I got the pink one and wow!!! It is in your face pink!!! Lol I like it.
I am hoping my son has mailed me my other new cutter, the Cricut Imagine. That should be fun to use as well. I have a few cartridges coming to use with that.
I just finished working on a recipe swap I am in. I think my page turned out really cute. It is for a quick and simple key lime pie. I will take a pic of it and post it here. I now need to start on my Christmas cards that I am going to send out. I am also hoping to make both of the boys a cookbook for Christmas.



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Location:Breslauer Straße,Bad Schwalbach,Germany