Chocolate and a Special Request

First, the special request card! A friend has asked for a card with a pick up truck on it, and I love red, black and white together....along with the great embossing of the Cuttlebug cross hatch folder that looks like the tool boxes in so many pick up trucks.

Sorry I can't identify the papers, but I can tell you that the shiny silver stuff is flashing tape that you can pick up at your local hardward store, on a big roll, and it adheres to cardstock very easily. Then you can cut it, emboss it, ink it, or "just about anything else" it!!!

Silver leafing, satin ribbon, and self-stick gems complete the design. The inside has a computer generated message from the sender to the recepient. This is one of the nicest features of special request cards :)

Now the chocolate! I am preparing for another great Cricuteers in Paradise Swarm, and our theme this time is "Swimming in Chocolate", so no trip to Pennsylvania would be complete without a stop at Hershey's Chocolate World!!Here are some anxious tourists waiting to get inside to try out the ride through the exhibit on how the chocolate is made (mostly to get the free treat at the other end, because they live nearby and have done this before!!)

And these tourists were mightily tempted with these GIANT Hershey bars, but, alas, the August heat, and over 1,000 miles to travel in a hot car, made us think better of it. However..... we did have a cooler with us for other tempting goodies for our fellow swarmers!!! Never fear!

Until next time .....

Happy crafting ~

BettyBee

Cricuteers in Paradise Round Up!!

This past weekend was another wonderful Cricuteers in Paradise swarm, and we had SO MUCH FUN!! Here are a couple of pictures..... (there are lots more on Flossie's Followers on Facebook!)

These are the awesome Old West Boots on our goodie bags, with our mascot, Flossie, looking on!

Here are most of the Cricuteers that were present this time! Yee Haw!


The best part of any "camp fire" is toasting the perfect marshmallow to layer with graham crackers, Hershey bars, and top with another cracker.......Mmmmmm, Oooey, gooey S'mores!

Along with the great scrapping and teaching that took place, we had a
surprise birthday celebration for Mom!

We certainly know how to have a good time! Our next swarm is scheduled for the end of August, and our theme is "Flossie's Swimming in Chocolate" .... now, you KNOW that is going to be fun!

My heartfelt thanks to each and every one who helped make this such a super weekend. You know I couldn't do it without you.

Hugs,

Viva La Diva Swarm!

Tiaras, pajamas, massages, "diamond rings', strawberry Belgian waffles, trophies, midnight madness, and ice cream sundaes... Oh, we DO know how to have a Scrapbooking Crop!!!

Another wonderful Cricut Swarm has come and gone....but the memories will last a lifetime. This is the group photo of all of us with our Mini-Me's! Our challenge was to create an 11 1/2" paper doll of ourselves, and these ladies did an awesome job!

These are just a few! It was so much fun recognizing our friends by their characteristics, loves, and expressions of their personalities. There were some serious trophies given for this competition!! (The most coveted pieces of plastic in all of Florida!!!)



Our next surprise was the opportunity to try out the Cricut Cake!!! It was really fun, and we learned a lot about Gum Paste. It was a little bit of a learning curve, but easily handled. It will be a lot more fun to tackle at home.

It wasn't exactly an Ace of Cakes prize winner, but not shabby for a very first attempt! The great part is that there is no waste with the gum paste. I can keep working with it, and make bigger and better decorations every time! This is totally fun!!!

Last, but not least, here are some of us enjoying a wonderful hand wax treatment after having our hands massaged by our friend Pat! Oh, what a treat after a busy scrapping weekend ..... ahhhh! Viva la Divas, forever!!!!

We are already saddling up for our next Round Up....to be held June 25-27, so, if you want to swarm with us, you'd best be a' gettin' ahold of me pretty soon to reserve your spot! She'll be fillin' up, and you'll be out in the cold, pardner!!! Wouldn't want that, ya' hear!!

Happy crafting ~

Cricuteers in Paradise

The Cricuteers in Paradise certainly did show Christmas with a Heart this past weekend. The 32 ladies that were there were talented, fun, funny, generous, helpful, and outright amazing. They created and provided over 450 cards for the unit of one Cricuteer's Soldier Son whose unit is in Iraq, and over $225 to purchase shoes for Head Start children for Christmas. Newbies were helped to get started in this fantastic hobby, and lifetime friendships are forged. Every swarm gets better and better, and my heart just swells right along with them. I love my Cricut Sisters!

We have our own Facebook Page now, too! Check out Flossie's Followers! Flossie the Flamingo (our mascot) was there in her Christmas hat, and brought Floyd, her tap dancing son! If you are ever in SW Florida during swarm time, check us out!

Happy Crafting ~

Magnificent Butterfly

Isn't this GORGEOUS?!? At the cricut swarm in Ocala this past weekend, this is one technique that we shared, and I loved it!!! These butterflies are gold filigree stickers, and by layering one on vellum, coloring the back, and then doing the second layer on clear acetate, this fabulous creature emerges! Every one that we did was different, but just as breath-taking! The edge of the card was painted wtih a Krylon Gold Leaf pen...also SO beautiful.

South Florida Cricuteers in Paradise!

Greetings from Cricut-ritaville!!! Isn't this the greatest group of scrappers you've ever seen?!!! These ladies and two gentlemen spent three magnificent days together sharing, laughing, designing, eating and making friendships that will last a long, long time!! This was the first, but certainly not the last South Florida Cricut Swarm, and it was a tremendous success thanks to the awesome help I had from some great friends and family.... such fun was had by all!!!


Congratulations to Kristi Driscoll and Sandy Braithwood, two of our Card Challenge winners! Notice the fun tropical trophies they get to take home. Kristi won Best Overall and Sandy won Best Representation of the Theme! Congratulations to Claire Walz, Janet Kohr, Rosemary Zuba, and Bonnie Boyd who also won trophies for their winning entries. All of the cards were awesome, and I'm SO glad that I wasn't a judge :) I was there, and it was really hard, because they were all so good. Congrats to everyone!!!

The next Swarm in our area will be in Ocala in April, and a bunch of us can't wait to meet up again, because scrap buddies are the very best.

Here She Is!

I've been telling many of you about this adorable cat, that Phyllis made for us, as a treat in our goodie bags for the swarm!!! Isn't this just the Cat's Meow?!? I know a picture is worth a thousand words, and I've devoted WAY more that in telling how cute this is, and describing it over the phone! LOL It's amazing what one can do with a piece of paper, a snack bag, and a staple.....together with a load of talent! Thanks again, Phyllis.

Central Florida Swarm

This is the group from our Central Florida Swarm! What an awesome group of girls! We were at Piktails in Orlando, and made friends for life!! Thanks to Bethany for hosting, Debbie and Sandy for the store, Daphne for my name tag, everyone for awesome goodies for the bag, GrammiC for the table trash hopper surprise! and SO MUCH MORE! Enfys, Carol, Margaret, Roe, Cheryl, Cathy, Karen, Phyllis, Dell, Kerry, Carol O, Wendy, Vanessa, (oooohhhh, I was afraid this would happen) I'll think of the names of the others of you.... everyone was so helpful, sharing, enthusiastic, encouraging, funny, friendly.....amazing ScrapSisters!!! Thank you so much for this great experience :-) I really look forward to the next one...and any others after that.

Cricut Swarm

Here we are at our first swarm! We had so much fun!!!