My First Blog Award - Thanks Yolie!

Yolie from over at JustYolie has really made my week by giving me my first blog award.  She also is so encouraging as she stops by my blog often and leaves me sweet comments on my posts!  She's precious and I really am thankful for her.

The rules of this award are to tell you 10 things that make me happy and then I am to pass it on to 5 more people:

1.  Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior
2.  My hubby who does so much for our family
3.  My daughters who make me so very proud
4.  My mother who is my real hero
5.  The rest of my family who make life special
6.  Friends that love me for me
7.  All of those that call me Momma G
8. The wonderful people that volunteer with me and do so much for others
9.  Long weekends at home with no where to be except in the Lil Cabin
10. Beautiful, sunny days!

I am going to pass this award on to five blog friends. Make sure you check out their INSPIRING blogs!

Here they are:

1.  Paulo
2.  Kay
3.  Connie
4.  Shelly
5.  Kat

Cards, Cards, Cards

I've never been much on making cards - I mean, what do the recipients really do with them once they've looked at them and the occasion has passed?  Do they keep them and realize the amount of time and love that went into the cards or do they just toss them aside to be forgotten?  I am not sure of that answer, but I do know that with these cards, I had a lot of fun making them.  Even if they do get tossed, it was worth the effort to let some of the special people in my life know how much I love them.

First up is the Valentine's Day card I made for my hubby.  Now, he probably wasn't too fond of the card - it doesn't have a tractor or a police car on it, but I hope he knew I still love him even after all these years.  It turned out very pretty - that's not a good term for a manly kind of card, but I am not sure how else to describe it.  And - if he thought it was too pretty - he didn't dare say it out loud.  Sweet, huh?

I also made cards for both of my girls.  I had to get the our oldest daughter's in the mail since she is away at college and it was a couple of seconds after I sealed the envelope and was putting it into the box of goodies I was sending her that the thought occurred to me!  I forgot to take a picture!!!  Oh well, she's the type that will keep the card until it gets lost in the clutter on her desk.  So maybe there's a chance you'll get to see that one.  It was one of Yolie's files - I Toadily Love You and was very appropriate as my oldest received a couple of pet toads for Christmas from her beau.  The toad was a svg file I found on another site, but for the moment, the addy has left me.  I'll edit the post when I remember where in the world it came from.

The card I made for our youngest daughter is definitely not the pretty type of card for a girl.  But, if you knew her and how much she loves our potbelly pig, Jillian, it has a whole new meaning. Even in church on Sundays, as I write notes in my journal, she reaches over to draw pictures of Jillian on my note pages.  So the card itself isn't pretty but it sure did make her smile. 

The final card I have to show you this evening is one I am making for a friend at work.  She's expecting her first child and all signs (okay - the ultrasound) says she's having a boy.  I made another tri-fold card for this one and it really is sweet.  I hope that she likes it - and maybe she'll hold on to it for a few days before it gets lost in the shuffle of putting things away in the nursery. 

I hope you enjoyed viewing the cards as much I enjoyed making them.  I have a few more baby shower cards for over the next few days, so maybe you'll get to see those too.  It seems like everyone is having babies these day!  Whew -- glad it's not me!! 

Thanks as always for stopping by the lil cabin in the woods.  It's been a pleasure sharing just a moment out of my day with you. May God's blessings shine upon your life and as the bumps in the road come upon you, look for the lessons that He may be trying to teach you, one step at a time.

It's a Cabin Day!

It began to snow late yesterday afternoon and this morning we woke up to a white world.  But it wasn't long before the sun came out and the white became very wet.  It was still a good day to stay inside where it was warm.  I spent the day in the cabin doing homework with a co-worker and then later working on the scrapbook for my mom.  I really was hoping to have so much more completed by now, but with classes starting back on February 4th and then work being so busy, not much has gotten done. 

I do have a couple of pages to share with you -- and maybe it will inspire me to do more.  These two pages show daddy in his early days.  I love the picture of him in the hat when he was five years old.  It is so very sweet.  All of these pictures help me to realize how much my three brothers look like daddy.  You can see all three of them in the various stages of his early years. 

Have a great weekend and thanks as always for stopping by the lil cabin in the woods.  I hope to see you again soon.

It's a Cold, Icy Day!

Today we have a lot of ice remaining from the winter cold blast that came through on Friday/Saturday.  Church services were cancelled today and we have had a nice day together as family.  Our oldest is heading back to college after a weekend visit as soon as the roads are clear enough to travel safely.  While she is preparing to leave us today, I thought I'd post my latest page in my scrapbook of my dad's life. 

Daddy loved family more than anything else and he was firmly rooted in that conviction.  Because of that I added a page that showed his love for family and his commitment to it.  In order to show how deep that commitment was I thought what better way than to add a tree.  So, if you like the tree on the page shown below you can get the tree svg file for it here.  I used Glossy accents on it to give a little shine, maybe you can see it in the photo.  I hope that it inspires you and gives you a feeling of how important the roots of our families are in our lives. It also spreads wide to show how all of us have an important role of preserving family and continuing the legacy given to us in earlier generations. 

I also have included a portion of Paulo's folkheartelement file that you can get for your own creation.  Paulo is so very talented and I often find myself thinking I need something to pull a project together with one of his creations.  His heart helps pull together the tree and hearts that are so very evident in the love that our family has shared through the years. 

While the ice and snow melt outside I pray that each of you have a blessed Sunday.  Remember to spend time with Christ as He is the giver of life.  Blessings to you all and thanks for stopping by the lil cabin in the woods!

Chandolier SVG

I am still trying to learn Inkscape and look for opportunities to try creating svg files.  Someone over at the scalhints yahoogroup asked for a chandolier svg file.  So, for practice I thought I would try to create one for her.  If you would like to try it, you can get it here.  I haven't cut it yet, but it looks like it should be okay.

Let me know how it works if you try it.  If I actually cut it, I'll come back and post it.  Thanks for stopping by the Lil Cabin in the Woods!  Blessings to you!

Latest CoWorker Card Challenge

Happy Monday! and it was most definitely a Monday, but I survived and Tuesday is quickly approaching.  The card I had promised to have completed on Sunday is ready a day later than planned, but it turned out pretty close to my coworker's original.  I know, what's all this fuss and challenge between friends?  This is all because of a discussion at work regarding the cost of our "toys".  So, my Cricut Expression does cost more than a few stamps, but you don't know how many Linda has.  She could have bought about five Expressions by now and then some with all of the stamps she has.  The sad part of it all is that she might pay about $15 for a stamp (she does admit spending as much as $35 on one stamp), but then uses it about 3, maybe 4 times.  I create a file or download a free one that someone else made and I can use it once or hundreds of times -- no additional cost to my Expression or SCAL. 

The latest card challenge was one that had a bird that looked very similar to the one shown on my card.  My dear friend paid $15 for her stamp and has used it twice.  I found an image of a bird on google images, imported into Inkscape (BTW Linda -- Inkscape is free).  Traced it, then created the wing, and saved it all as a svg file.  I used Paulo's scalloped dot file for the white border, Penny Duncan's leaves 2 file, and then another border file I made in Inkscape to match the cut on Paulo's file. 

The card background is black, measured at 6" x 6", scored in half.  The finished card should fit in a 6.75" business envelope.  The red heart paper is from K&Company and the white is simple cardstock.  I hope that you can find use for the svg files I have uploaded.  Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you again really soon at the Lil Cabin in the Woods -- May God Bless you all!

3D Valentine Card - A Challenge from a Friend

It has been a busy Saturday -- seems everyday is getting to be that way!  But -- I did have time to work on a card that was actually a challenge from a coworker.  She took a class to make a card similar to the one I am showing here.  I told her I could make it without taking the class and she's giving til Monday to get it done.  I figured as long as I was accepting the challenge I could make it useful and turn it into a Valentine's Day card.  So -- I have no idea what kind of card it is, but it folds flat, then opens up into a 3 sided box.  The original card I was shown didn't have a ribbon that actually wrapped and closed, but I added one along with a soda can top that I colored using Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink.  The ribbon is glued down on one end and the other end is free to slide through the can top.  I don't really like the way the card stands up when it is open, but it stood open good enough for me to get a picture of it. 

On the inside of the card, I used one of Paulo's beautiful svg files. Thank you Paulo!! It is the heartofheart element found on his blog.  On the left side of the card I used the cut file, both the base and top layers - and on the right side I used only the negative of the top layer cut.  I used contact paper over the cut pieces left on my cricut mat, then used my spatula to help lift them off.  Some of them did move but the majority of them stayed put. 

I made the simple I Love You in Inkscape and then pulled it into SCAL to cut.  The font was a little thin, so I used outset in Inkscape to fatten it up just a little without losing the form of the font.

If you know the actual name of this type of card, please let me know.  And Linda -- if you happen to stop by this weekend -- I did it!!! And I still have tomorrow to get the one with the bird done for you.  Girl, you should know better than to issue a challenge to me!  You know I always strive to win!