And the winner is.....

...DISNEYNUT77!  Congratulations Gloria! I'll be sending out your Easter 2010 cartridge as soon as you contact me. 

Thank you all for entering and following!  I have lots of ideas for new tutorials on Photoshop, as well as new Cricut projects, including one that I'm VERY exited about that uses the Easter cart.  Stay tuned and I'll try to keep you busy!

POP the COLOR in your PHOTOS for drama in blogs and scrapbooks!

Have you ever wondered how this very dramatic and artistic effect is achieved? I can show you how it can be done in just five minutes! View the newest tutorial on my revamped Tutorials Page and you'll be amazing your family and friends with your "darkroom" skills in no time! Shhhhh...don't tell them it's EASY!!

Click here to go to the tutorials page now!

Matchbook Valentine - Quick and Easy!

This is not my original idea. It's been around for as long as I can remember. As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I've been making them for many, many years as quick make-and-takes at workshops.  They originated as a project that was done with blank door hangers that Stampin' Up! used to sell, which meant they were already cut and had a hole in them for the doorknob, making a perfect window.  When they were no longer for sale, I quit making these little cuties. Last week I came across an old sample of one, and I thought "That would be so easy to make with Cricut!"  Off I went to design one!

New tutorials planned??

I got great feedback from many of you about my video watermark tutorial.  Thank you all for your comments!  As I said in that video, there are many ways to create watermarks, and I am working on another tutorial on a watermark that looks embossed into the photo.  Watch for it this weekend!

Several of you who left comments also asked if I planned to make more tutorials about using Photoshop.  I hadn't really planned to at the time, but the more I thought about it, I thought that since we're all artists of one kind or another, and since so many of us scrapbook, that there might be some interest in creating special effects with your photos.  One of the possibilities is pictured here. (That's from my daughter's wedding in November.) How cool would that effect be to use in your scrapbook? There are some other more practical techniques that I could cover that would help you fix little "problems" in photos, and some that are just plain fun.

Don't worry - I won't stop posting Cricut projects and files, but I thought this might cover something of use to many of you, too.  So, take the poll , and let me know if you're interested.  It's right under my avatar on this page.

UPDATE:  The tutorial for this technique is now online! Click here to watch!

A birthday for me, BLOG CANDY for you!

In celebration of my big FIFTIETH birthday (that wasn't as hard to type as I expected it to be), I'm giving away a gift because I feel so incredibly blessed. I have the good fortune to have a husband who completely indulges me and my crafting "needs," and I want to pay it forward.

Yep, it's the Easter 2010 cartridge, and it's up for grabs to one lucky bunny!  All you have to do is leave a comment under this post to enter the drawing and you just might have this new cartridge to put in your Easter basket.  It's a brand new cartridge in an unopened package and linkable to Gypsy.

I'll use a random selector to choose the winner on my birthday, February 9th. Be sure to leave your email in your post, and check back here on the evening of the 9th to find out if you won so you can give me your shipping address.  Good luck!

P.S. - Hop over to see what one of my followers and Cricut MB buddies did with the TreatHeart Box I posted Sunday.  She turned it into an adorable cookie holder! See her photos at My Polar Expressions.

SCORE! Super Bowl Football Box

A follower emailed me last night and asked if I could come up with something to give to her guests as they leave her Super Bowl party this Sunday. Well...you KNOW how I love a challenge!  This was one of those rare projects that came together exactly as I pictured it.  Because time was short, I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More instead of making my own box, but I made the football, goal post and word out of good ole' George.  I hope she likes it, and I hope some of you can use it, too.