Cricut Expression for Christmas

I'm a craft nut that loves many different types of creativity. I've been painting and sewing most of my life. (And that's a long time.) I started stamping in Dec. of 1995. A friend I worked with at the time got me interested and as they say.. the rest is history.

I was hooked so bad I bought every stamp that I could get my hands on. Eventually I became a demonstrator for Stampin' Up and then later The Angel Company. Both companies have wonderful stamps and it was a lot of fun. I have a fairly large collection of stamps now after 13 years of stamping. I did sell a good bit on Ebay when I started running out of room for storage. Now I just look for new ways to store them. The advent of unmounted has helped somewhat.

I don't know what you'd call my stamping style. I drift all over the board sometimes. I like clean-cut styles and also like the antique grunge look too. I love collage and lots of layers. My favorite technique is watercolor. I use watercolor pencils by Staedler, leaving them in the metal tin and use my water brush to touch the tips of the pencils to get my color.

I'm fortunate enough to have been chosen to be a designer for Sunday International beginning Jan. '09. I've been on cloud 9 ever since the announcement. I'll start in the next week or so designing for them. It's a new journey for me and I'm very excited about it.

I have an 11-year-old granddaughter, Scarlett, (she'll be 12 Jan. 9) that has been crafting with me since she was about a year old. She used to sit in my lap and stamp. We've always had such fun when we craft together. She likes to carve her own stamps and is doing such a wonderful job at it. She amazes me with her talent. We love our crafting time together.

I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas '08 and am in love with this machine. (Is that sick?) I made some pajamas (cover) using Mary Engelbriet fabric for it the first day I got it. Scarlett and I wore out the cutting mat the first weekend we used it. (Got it two weeks before Christmas.) She made a bunch of cute signs, using the markers and then coloring in the shapes. I made a Christmas bouquet. I craft lifted the idea from the net and my hat is off to Lciaccio31 (http://www.scrapbook.com/) that made one and posted it. My co-workers just loved it.

I'm looking forward to mixing stamping with the Bug. It is the most unbelievable machine I've ever seen. I love gizmos and it's by far the coolest I have. (Well... my embroidery/sewing machine is pretty darn cool too!) So is... paper cutters, the Sizzix, Zyron machines, label makers. Geeze... can you tell I love gizmos! I used to be called Gizmo Queen by my friends.

What is one to do when one is hooked on many crafts? I guess "craft 'til you croak!"

Hey... I hope you didn't fall asleep while reading my first blog. I'll try to keep you awake in the future with some of my ideas and creations. Scarlett's too!

I look forward to hearing from fellow crafters out there.

Thanks so much for visiting... do come back.

Debbie