I love my cricut bloghop!

Hey y'all!  Did you miss me?  it's been SUPER crazy here the past 10 months.  Ok, so here's the deal:  I'm in school, just bought a house (moving in October!), pregnant with baby #6, just got a new puppy and I have a TON of projects lined up for Christmas, but that's going to come in a little bit.  LOADS of ideas coming and it's not all paper projects!  Most of them are, but not all- and I"m also in a 12 days of Christmas blog hop (on TOP of what I'm doing!!).  Lots of love coming up, I promise.

So, you're here from Jenny's Blog.  If not, you need to start there to get the full experience!  There are so many talented ladies and we're all so proud to show you that we love our cricut!  After me, you'll be going to Cheryl.  If you get lost, here's the lineup.

Jenny - http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/

Heather- http://paper-junkie.blogspot.com 

Cheryl - http://cardsbycg.blogspot.com/

Cindy - http://www.cindys-greencricut.blogspot.com/

Kathy - http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com

Wandy - http://greenapplescrapper.blogspot.com/

Jenny's also giving away some really great prizes!  There's a $5 gift certificate to Jaded Blossom and a 5 pack of action wobbles!  She's so sweet!

What did I do?  ...I'm so glad you asked!  We just bought a new house!  Well, being pregnant with baby #6, we realize that we needed a lot more space, and figured instead of paying rent, we'd pay a mortgage for something totally ours.   My project is planning out my garden.  You see, in addition to paper crafting, I have many other talents- and gardening and harvesting (canning, making wine, etc) are just a few.

This is what I did for this hop: I made a gardening notebook!



I used preserves (a cart I hadn't used in forever!)- the double strawberry and Alphalicious for the font.
Cardstock:  2 reds, brown, green, beige.
tea dye distress ink
and a brown sheet that I have no idea where I got it.
3 buttons- 2 black 1 red
cheap notebook from walmart (seriously, cost me like .17 when school supplies were being sold!)

Cut the strawberries at 4 1/2 inches and assemble with the leaves on the very top.
cut the background (still in preserves on the same page!) at 6 1/4.  ink around strawberries and background with tea dye distress ink.

glue everything in place where you want it and ATG it to the main page (after it's attached to the cover of the notebook).  the buttons were the last thing to be added. :)  this is going to be my go-to for planning, notes, and everything else.

BTW, I'm going to be growing about 200 strawberry plants next year!  (no, really!)  Here's my strawberry syrup recipe:

4 cups cut up strawberries, then mashed
2 c. sugar,
1 c. water.

bring sugar and water to simmer (until clear) over med. heat.  Add mashed up strawberries and simmer until thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon without being too runny.  Seriously, I don't have times, it's an eyeball thing.  let cool.  No, really- molten sugar is no joke.  serve warm over pancakes, or cool over ice cream!  (or if you're feeling adventurous, you might even try this in some milk, though I have to say I've never tried that.)

Enjoy the rest of the hop- there are some seriously talented ladies and don't forget to comment in each to be eligible for Jenny's giveaway!