The Magic Gardens in Philadelphia

I was just looking at some travel photos I'd posted on Facebook, and just had to share this one. If you are ever in Philadelphia, you must check out the Magic Gardens on South Street, a whole city block covered in mosaic art. It is the artwork of Isaiah Zagar, whom we met walking down the street while we were admiring his incredible work. The pictures don't do it justice. The website will tell you more about it: http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/   Let me know if you've seen it.

Most Depressing

Is anyone else feeling like this? Ever since the whole Provo Craft versus SCAL & MTC debacle, I have lost the desire to create any new cut files. I am so peeved with Provo. I know I should be converting my cut files to all the other formats that SCAL 3 made it possible to do, but I just don't have it in me. I just don't have the "itch" to create.  I'm hoping that this winter, when life slows down a bit, it will come back. Am I alone in feeling this way?

Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Columbus, Ohio 2011

Before:

After:

In Progress

I was blessed to be a part of amazing adventure - tearing down a 900 sq. ft. house and building a 4000 sq ft. one in it's place in less than a week! They couldn't have chosen a more deserving family. It was wonderful to be involved with - I encourage anyone who gets the chance to do this, to take part!

Wowzer! New way to view Blogger blogs!

This is the coolest!  I learned it from Paulo (http://http://scale-files.blogspot.com) .  Fab new ways to view any Blogger blog - the ones with 'blogspot' in their address):

To see all the pix of all posts on a site on one scroll-able page, just add 

                                  /view/snapshot

to the end of the url address, as in the following example:

cricutcard-iologist.blogspot.com/view/snapshot

et voila!  Extra cool. My new favorite way to view all Blogger blogs. Notice the blue menu to the left of the search area at the top right of the page pictured above. It says "Snapshot" now, but you can choose a bevy of other ways to view a site through this drop-down menu, including flipcard (fun - almost a game), mosaic (cool), sidebar ((meh), & timeslide (haven't figured this one out yet), but the snapshot is definitely my fave. Have fun with this!

Daisy 3x3 Gift Card Set

Hi all,

I've been away so long, I've probably lost you all! Computer was out of commission, and my drive where I save all my files died. Eeek! I had backed them up just a week before, thank goodness, and am awaiting the arrival of a new drive & more memory. Anyway, I've been working on several designs I haven't cut, yet, and hope to get to them soon. A couple of them are design-intensive classic cars - a Corvette and a '57 Chevy. 

In the meantime, I made this little card set for a friend as a thank you for some great food & flowers while I was sick last week. I found the inspiration on Splitcoast Stampers. The stamp on the top says, "Thank You", with daisies around it, and there's a little fabric daisy on the center of the bow.

Free Kaleidoscope Plug-in for Photoshop!

The photo at the top is of a concrete mosaic garden sculpture I made a few summers ago, and the one below it  is a kaleidoscope of a closeup of that photo. I was over at Extreme Cards and Papercrafting - one of my very favorite blogs (my love for/addiction to pop-ups goes waaaaay back to childhood), and she had posted about this wonderful free plug-in for Photoshop (in its many guises) for creating kaleidoscopes of your photos.

http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/01/kaleidoscope-snowflakes.html

I had just seen an episode of Scrapbook Memories on Saturday where they incorporated kaleidoscope printouts into a fabulous valentine card, and was interested in making one, but can't afford the software. Voila! You can download software like it for free at:

http://www.mehdiplugins.com/english/kaleidoscope.htm.

They have all kinds of free plug-ins for PS, including photo collages. Wowwy - what a fun way to spend some time! Thank you Carol, and the wonderful people at mehdiplugins.com!

Valentine Heart-edged Envelope & Cottage Digi-paper

Grrrr -  If I could figure out how to put three photos beside each other...

This is the A2 lined envelope I made to go along with the Valentine Rose Cottage card, below. The digi-paper is my own design, and is available for $1.00. The envelope svg, also my design, is free here. I plan on using a couple of Penny Duncan's gorgeous shaplies on the center front of the envelope for the name of the recipient. Here is a link to Penny's blog:

http://pennyduncancreations.blogspot.com/

Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the appropriate files, including all necessary svg's, scut2 files, as well as a sheet of assembly instructions where needed which includes a photo of the finished project for reference. Please use the "Donate" button to order, and leave a note under "Purpose" on the Paypal page, telling me which file it is that you want. Thanks for your interest! I appreciate your business so much! Laura

Happy Valentines Day!