Paper Crafting

I've been knitting, but still haven't taken a picture of my current work in progress. I'll try and get that done later this week. The project is coming along nicely, but there's one problem. My Mom has been shrinking. She's lost about 20 pounds in maybe 4 weeks? It's sickening. Then there's me...takes me over 2 months to lose 20 pounds. Geez Louise. Anyway, here's what I've been doing lots since Mike left...paper crafting.

That may or not be my Christmas card for this year. So, if you usually get one from me, pretend you didn't see this. :p I signed up for a Christmas Card swap with my private swap group. Hopefully the other ladies like it. I kind of wonder how I ever scrapped or made cards before I got my Cricut Expressions? HA!

Next...a mini-album made with the Close To My Heart File Folios. Really, they're just a 12x12 file folder. So, if you've got one of those laying around, you could easily replicate this little book. This is actually the second one I made. The first, I sent to Mike for his birthday last week. He likes sentimental stuff like this, so he was pleased to get a little surprise in the mail. When he was in Iraq, I sent him an album that went everywhere with him. Even out on missions. ;-) Anyway, this one, I mailed to my Mom today. She'll appreciate it, as she says I don't mail her pictures anymore, I just e-mail 'em. Does anyone mail pictures anymore???? This is the album closed:

This is the album open, showing the little tags that pull out:

This is another little album I made. I haven't added pictures yet though. I'm thinking some black and whites of the kids would be super cute. I'm planning to make several as gifts. We give most of our extended family gift cards for Christmas. We haven't always done this, but it gets too hard to know what to buy for people we hardly see. Plus, it costs a lot to ship all of that stuff. So, my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law and my brother will be getting these little albums full of pictures of the kids, along with a gift card for Christmas. I'll probably give one to my Mom too, 'cause she'll have a cow if I don't. :p

Closed:

Open:
Each envelope has a tag that pulls out to hold a photo too. Super fun, super cute, and super quick!

For those of you American Girl fans looking to start your shopping a bit early, here's a code for you. It's $10 off a $30 purchase. You can use it as many times as you want. So, you can purchase $30 worth, submit your order and repeat! Code: 159926 Don't forget to check the sale section! They don't have much for the 18" dolls, but they have some cute stuff for the Bitty Baby/Bitty Twins!