Cari Creates! ~ Designs and More

Prepping Valentines + a Lettering Delights Sale

2012-01-13T00:58:00.001-08:00

These little Valentine treat bags are one of my favorite projects that I came up with last year, and I am busily making a whole batch of them to give to various family members, especially nieces and nephews! As I was working on this batch, I decided to take some photos of the various steps, and I will be back here in a few days with a fun tutorial on making them!

Meanwhile, I want to be sure you all know that Lettering Delights has decided to extend their wonderful Dollar Days sale an extra day, through Friday night at midnight MST. They have over 3,000 items priced from $1 - $4 each—saving you 50-80% on fonts, alphabets, graphics, clipart, papers, cut its and SVGs. And there are *so* many adorable products, too! Just look at these adorable Mahalo products I came across (search: Mahalo or Hawaii):

And here are a few more adorable ideas (search: “bottle”):

And I found these by searching “valentine” from the search box! Too cute!

Ooooh, just so much adorableness at Lettering Delights – I can never get too much of them!

Have a wonderful weekend, and oh yes, *enjoy* this Friday the 13th! woohoo!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Wishing You All A Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T11:55:00.001-08:00

May you and yours have a very blessed and happy new year in 2012!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Final Clearance: My Top 10 Favs

2011-12-30T09:55:00.001-08:00

The New Year is almost here! And that means it’s time for my digital scrapbooking shop to close. Today I want to share with you my top ten all-time *favs* from my shop …

* MY TOP TEN ALL-TIME DIGISCRAP FAVS FROM MY SHOP *

Luminesce.Tangerine

Luminesce.Lavender

Painterly Scenics

Herbal Garden

I Can Fly

I ♥ Chipboard

Candy Stripes

Romantic Dreams

Pretty Krafty

Olde Tyme Junque

All of these and much more are on sale through New Year’s Eve for just ONE DOLLAR – don’t miss your final chance at these great products.

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Merry Christmas! … a QP freebie for you

2011-12-25T12:23:00.001-08:00

★*˚°。°*。°*。★*˚°。°*。°˚°★*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★
˛°_██_*˚°。°/♥ \*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★*˚°。°*。°*★
˛. (´• ̮•)*.。*/♫.♫\*˛.*˛_Π_____*˚°。*。°*❤*˚°。°*。°*★
.°( . • . ) ˛°./• '♫ ' •\.˛*./______/~＼*˚°。°*。°*°*❤ ˚°*★
*(...'•'.. ) *˛╬╬╬╬╬˛°.｜田田❤｜門｜*˚°。°*。°* ♥
★*˚°。°*。°*。★ MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! ★*

Here’s a little Christmas freebie for you all! Download this QP to quickly scrap those precious Christmas morning photos.

- DOWNLOAD QP -

This QP coordinates with the Christmas Gift kit that is currently on sale for $1 in my shop. Don’t forget my digiscrap shop closes in just one week!

Merry Christmas & God bless!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

A quick ScrapIt template freebie!

2011-12-13T11:10:00.001-08:00

In the midst of all my Christmas preparations, I just had to stop and whip up a fun little template and digital/printable stickers pack to share! The template comes in three formats: layered PSD & TIF files for use in design programs, and in a full-size JPG which can be printed for use as a traditional scrap page background. The digital stickers can also be printed – all pieces are high-quality 300 dpi graphics.

I had some fun playing with the template along with pics of my pets & some cute pieces from Pink Paislee’s recent Winter Wonderland freebies:

Click on the preview below to download:

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

P.S. Don’t forget, my entire digiscrap shop is on sale – every product is just $1!

Foto Funday {week 49 | 2011}

2011-12-04T08:27:00.001-08:00

- Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho -

How is your December coming along? Getting your shopping done, your gifts wrapped, your cards sent? I’m busily getting all my Christmas goodies made – chocolate peppermint crackles, peanut butter balls, dipped pretzels… yummy! I thought I would just pop in and share a few photos of our wintry wonderland, and then it’s back to the kitchen for me!

The week before Thanksgiving we got a foot and a half of snow – white, white, everywhere!

This is one of my fav pics – my wintering lilacs with snow gently falling onto their branches.

The turkeys have been coming daily to feed, even on Thanksgiving! It was humorous to stand there looking at the turkey in our oven and these fat wild turkeys outside eating the cracked corn we give them. A few times, we saw one of them jump up on my little patio table to eat directly from the birdfeeder full of sunflower seed.

When the sun comes out on the snow, there is nothing more brilliant! It is so beautiful! This is a closer look at Schweitzer Ski Mountain from our front yard.

Like I said, nothing more brilliant than sunshine on the snow – just look at it sparkle!

Don’t forget, I still have those free printable Christmas tags – download the PDF & add some fun to your gifts!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Christmas Gift … and a closeout sale …

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Gift {the kit}

This brand new kit is in my GingerScraps shop today, and at an unbelievable price for a brand new, full-sized kit: ONE DOLLAR!

Why??!

Because EVERYTHING in my shop is on sale for ONE DOLLAR. All month long!

It’s a special gift to all my loyal customers before I close my digiscrap shop at the end of the year.

Yes, I am closing my shop as I have decided to step back from designing digiscrap products full time. I will still occasionally offer digiscrap freebies here on my blog, along with more papercrafting and hybrid projects. I’ve decided to devote more of my time to these other favorite pastimes of mine, along with photography and my other design work, including website design and more. I certainly hope you will all still hang around and enjoy this slight change of direction! (You will soon be seeing a fabulous redesign on my site & blog, and I expect to have more surprises to share after the first of the year, too!)

Sooooo… that is why my shop is on sale at such super low prices! That is also why I created this very special kit for Christmas & have it marked so low – so I could show my loyal customers how much I appreciate you!

Christmas Gift has been designed so you can scrap your Christmas memories *or* print your own wrapping paper and gift tags – or do both! Either way your special moments at Christmas will be more beautiful and personal. Rich vintage colors and textures accent every paper and embellishment in this very special kit. And I’ve even included full printable PDF sheets of tags in two styles to make your gift-giving even easier!

Christmas Gift {the kit} includes:

And here’s the coordinating Christmas Gift template pack (available separately for, yep, just $1!):

I also have a totally adorable new mini kit for this month’s GingerScraps Buffet: Who Village! And, yes, it’s just $1 also!

All the designers have created coordinating packs on the Who-Village theme – don’t miss these!

I also have another brand new collection at GingerScraps, but I can’t show it to you… WHY? It’s the December “Free With Purchase” Grab Bag! Just spend $10 on *any*thing at GingerScraps and you can get this fabulous grab bag. I guarantee you will be thrilled with all you find in here!

And here’s a look at ALL you can find in my shop for just $1 per product … get them now before they are GONE for good!

Oooh, and I have just one more thing for you today – it’s a *freebie* set of fun Christmas gift tags in PDF format that you can print and cut out for use on your Christmas gifts! I printed mine on lightweight white cardstock here at home – they’re all ready to go on our gifts! Just click the image below to download your printable! Enjoy!!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Bountiful Blessings

2011-11-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I do hope you and yours have enjoyed a marvelous time of giving thanks and indulging in all the best home-cooked fare you can handle! We have our oldest son and his wife here for the holiday, and what a blessing that truly is! We are missing our youngest son who is dutifully serving on a submarine, though we do hope to hear that he has had a few hours off to spend around a holiday table with good friends.

In digiscrapping news, I have a wonderful new kit and a coordinating template pack in my shop today – Bountiful Blessings! As you can see from the previews, this kit is created with soft hues of harvesttime and offers a bounty of beautiful papers and embellishments for scrapping your blessings! It also includes some elegant wordart to accent scrap pages and greetings cards, too. The kit and template pack are each on sale at 25% off all weekend at GingerScraps.

Here’s a closer look at all that is included in the Bountiful Blessings kit ($3 on sale!):

And here is the fabulous template pack:

Bountiful Blessings {the templates} – $1.15 on sale!

And look at this beautiful bit of inspiration for using Bountiful Blessings:

Y’all be absolutely sure you don’t miss all the exciting news and releases coming in the next week – I’ll have another new kit, an adorable new Buffet pack, and an extra *special* sale!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 45 | 2011}

2011-11-06T07:21:00.001-08:00

SQUIRREL!

Have you ever noticed how many movies & cartoons have running jokes about squirrels?? We have, & we think it’s hilarious, especially since our dog exactly like Dug in the movie “UP” – totally nuts at the slightest hint of a squirrel! lol! Other shows that fall in this category include Penguins of Madagascar and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory/Willy Wonka. Tickles my funny bone! This “nutty” little guy was posing for me when we were over in Montana a couple weeks ago … and just look at the amazing autumn foliage we saw while we were there …

Back here at home we had some beautiful views of the autumn foliage, including the brightly yellow Tamaracks, along with the first hints of snow on the Selkirk Mountains on October 29th.

This gorgeous view is what I see each time I drive home from making a run to the dump. Makes an unpleasant chore much more enjoyable to see this!

This is our porch on Halloween night – Jim did such an awesome job on those pumpkins!

Mmmmmmm……Halloween candy!

On Halloween night we had our regular visit from our little quartet of whitetail deer, only this time they bedded down in the front yard not 15 feet from the porch. They didn’t even mind when we turned on the porch light, talked out loud, and took photos. Never budged. Next morning it turned out they were just waiting for us to go inside and turn out the lights so they could sneak up to the porch and nibble on the last of my petunias as well as a few teeth out of Jim’s jack o’lanterns!

The fields out front look so gorgeous each morning with the frost on the grasses!

Isn’t autumn just a gorgeous and wonderful season?? It is certainly my favorite!

(Oh, did you all remember to set your clocks back this morning?? )

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

DSD Sale & Scrap’n’Chat!

2011-11-03T12:59:00.001-07:00

It’s the first weekend of November, and that means it is once again time to celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day (DSD)! I am putting my entire shop on sale for 40% off all weekend for DSD—November 4-6—including this brand new pack of Holiday Letters Template:

Get these four fabulous templates, each 8 1/2 x 11 inches, to get a jump-start on your holiday letters! Add your own photos, papers, and embellishments for a beautiful letter to print and send to everyone on your holiday mailing list. And they are a steal at just $1.50 for the entire pack this weekend!

Here’s a sample letter created with Letter #1 and my Shimmering Summer kit:

Want to try out one of these templates? Then join me Friday evening, 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern, for my monthly first Friday Scrap’n’Chat at GingerScraps! We will have a great time as always, chatting and scrapping for an hour. I will have a *free* template to share and a participation prize for all who post their scrapped letter by the deadline (Saturday morning). Get the details: Scrap’n’Chat with Cari

If you aren’t into using templates or just can’t use them in your scrapping program, please don’t let that stop you from joining in! I will post a scrapping “recipe” based on the template to help you get your holiday letter scrapped!

Here are just a few of the products you will find at 40% off November 4-6 for DSD:

… and much more in my shop!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Happy November!

2011-11-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

Ooooh isn’t this just a scrumptious taste of autumn?? My new mini kit, Timeless Traditions, is part of the November Buffet at GingerScraps! You can grab coordinating packs from many of the designers to mix and match for your scrapping delight! As always, these Buffet packs are each just ONE DOLLAR today only! The remainder of the month they will still be a great buy at just $2 each.

I only just added some last minute items to the Bake Sale for today, so be sure you grab these three FULL KITS at just $1 each TODAY ONLY:

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween last night, and are enjoying a beautiful autumn! (Oh, and if you are back east where they just got over a foot of snow…my heart truly goes out to you! )

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 42 | 2011}

2011-10-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

Good morning! It’s Sunday morning again and time to share a few photos from the past week. The above photo was taken while I was outside shooting the beautiful wall of clouds that was passing between us and the Selkirks on Tuesday, when suddenly this large falcon flew into view & landed in the top of a tree. I loved this shot I got of him just as he took off again!

Here’s a view of just the clouds moving in front of the Selkirks …

Just earlier this morning I had a nearly tragic visit from a smaller falcon, a kestrel, who somehow slammed into our back patio door. While I took this picture I also talked to him, encouraging him to keep trying to fly, and I silently put up some prayers for him to recover from the impact. I was so thrilled when he suddenly gave it a try, sputtering just above the ground for a few and then gaining a little altitude before landing perfectly on an old stump in the back yard. Not long after, he was off again! So glad he came out of it alright!

My awesome husband has been doing some work on a project he had begun several years ago, long before he became disabled. While the work goes slowly and he can’t work on it as often as he’d like sometimes (due to his health issues) he is making some wonderful progress, and the work is just beautiful. This is a wooden valance to go above our bedroom window. It features gorgeous “rope” edging that Jim long ago carved by hand. His recent work has included hand-carving the Cruse family crest and some shells from that crest to be attached to the front of the valance when finished. I just love his work and the wonderful smell of woodshavings!

This silly, fun photo is one that Jim took of me on our anniversary this past week. He was doing his usual Austin Powers moves with the camera – holding it at all angles and shooting randomly…hilarious! Of course, it always gets me laughing wildly when he does it!

And speaking of silly fun and random … I snapped this shot in the WalMart parking lot of an amazing load some folks had who are obviously in the process of moving. Now I have seen some really packed pickup trucks and trailers in my time, but I never have seen the front of a towed car loaded like this! Awesome!

Have a really marvelous, and silly, fun, random week everyone!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 41 | 2011}

2011-10-09T10:31:00.001-07:00

Watching to see when the first snows will show up on Schweitzer Ski Mountain … still nothing visible from here.

I didn’t take a lot of photos this past week, as I have been terribly sick with a miserable head & chest cold. I did, however, pop outside this morning to snap a few photos as the sun was peeking through the clouds just a bit and the autumn colors are becoming more evident – beautiful!

After snapping pics this morning, I came in and imported all the pics from my camera, and then noticed a little “friend” in one of the pics, so I went back out to snap a closer pic of her. Can you spot her in the first photo?

We had other visitors … the morning regulars stopping by their cracked corn breakfast.

Our poor hot pepper plant took a beating out in the garden this year from nibbling critters, plus it is producing peppers very late in the season due to the cool, wet June and July we had, so we moved it inside to see if we can get a few peppers out of it. Looking yummy!

This fella is “hanging around” on our front porch … I’m hoping to get the rest of my Halloween décor up this afternoon.

Do you have your Halloween décor up yet? Do you have a *favorite* item for this holiday that you always look forward to displaying?

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 40 | 2011}

2011-10-02T12:08:00.001-07:00

We spent yesterday with our son, Aaron, and his wife, Amanda, making the trip to Ione and back so we could ride the Lions Club Excursion Train. What a beautiful day it was! We had such a good time!

Through the tunnel …

Over the bridge and dam …

An old, old cabin …

Look at this little desperado!

An old kiln …

One my hubby took ..

Happy couple!

From around home here on Moose Trail Acres, a hungry chickadee …

… some autumn crocus …

… a really big bumble bee …

… a beautiful hollyhock …

Happy October everyone!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Night Fall :: the October Buffet + $ Bake Sale

2011-10-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

This marvelous layout by Lisa (FJchickie) at GingerScraps shows off some of the new goodies in the Night Fall Buffet packs available in the shop now. All the designers have created coordinating packs in this spooky theme and have them on sale for just ONE DOLLAR per pack today! (After today they will still be just $2 per pack.) Here are the fun packs I put together:

Night Fall {the elements} by Cari Cruse

Night Fall {the papers} by Cari Cruse

Here’s an extra preview of the papers to give you a better idea of how they look:

For this month’s $1 Bake Sale, I’ve marked down a few of my alphas. Grab these for just $1 each today only!

:: IN OTHER NEWS ... :: :)

I’m very excited today, as it is finally October – my favorite month of the year! It is just such a beautiful month—crisp sunny days, gorgeous autumn foliage, my birthday , and …… Halloween! It is also the time of year when the area Lions Club offers their fall foliage train rides that I so love, and TODAY we are headed over to hop on an open-air train car for a wonderful long ride! I’m looking forward to crossing the Pend Oreille River on the very high bridge as well as going through the Kissing Tunnel with my sweetheart! I hope to have some really great photos to share from the ride with you soon!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 39 | 2011}

2011-09-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Happy Autumn y’all! These lovely mums are just gorgeous, aren’t they? My moma was out here visiting from North Carolina and wanted me to have this gorgeous mums/fountain grass combo for my porch. I love it!

This spunky little fawn kept trying to get past our motion-activated sprinklers near the pond and gardens out back – he was hilarious to watch as he’d crouch & jump and eye that sprinkler like he wanted to take it on!

Around 7am the other morning I thought we were in for a doozy of a storm as I sat outside doing my morning devotions. I was amazed at how fast-moving this front was, and in the end we only garnered maybe 20 minutes of rain out of it. Beautiful tho!

This beautiful doe was back again to slurp down wild rosehips off our back porch.

As dry and brown and crunchy as most everything is here right now, I am so happy to still have a few things blooming in our gardens, like these white phlox and a second round of lovely-scented roses.

This is growing out of a terra cotta pot out back near where we feed the birds and wild turkeys. When it first came up we laughed about a piece of the feed corn managing to germinate and come up, but then it set seeds and we realized it’s millet!

On our visit to my Uncle Don’s last week, Jim received this awesome motorcycle “pinwheel” from Don – what a treat!

The autumn leaves begin to fall …

Our beautiful old dog waiting for me on the porch.

Jimmy went over and spent the afternoon with a dear old friend of ours, Frank, this week. They had some fun working on Frank’s old Jeep. Ain’t she pretty?

We’ve had lots of beautiful dragonflies around the place this year. Last night Jimmy momentarily caught one in our large bug jar, then he carefully let it crawl out onto his hand and took its picture before setting it free. Awesome!

Later this week I’ll have some *digiscrapping* news and maybe even some *papercrafting* posts to share! Have a lovely week!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 38 | 2011}

2011-09-18T13:11:00.001-07:00

It’s time for another Foto Funday, and I’m leading off with a few photos from the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony we attended in Sandpoint last Sunday.

Our friend, Mike, from New York, proudly carries the American flag amongst the fine-looking color guard.

As always, I delighted in the magnificent sound of Albeni Pipes and Drums!

While at the city beach for the ceremony, I got a shot of our own miniature Lady Liberty on the pier.

Our happy little dog!

I’ve been trying to learn a little each day about my new Canon Rebel, & had an opportunity to learn to photograph one of my fav subjects, the moon, this past week when the full Harvest Moon made her appearance. My first shot was using settings approximately the same as what had worked on my old Sony camera. I quickly found these settings were not going to work for me – no details of the moon and a reflected image in each shot as well.

After trying several different settings with no better results, I came inside and googled “photographing the moon”. This gave me some recommended settings and I got some much better shots.

I even caught the moon as she was setting over the Selkirk Mountains the *next morning* out front.

Out our back door I enjoyed watching some beautiful whitetail does enjoying the rosehips off our wild rose bushes.

Our wild turkeys have been showing up daily, sometimes more than once, and enjoying the cracked corn Jim throws out the back door for them. I even caught one of the youths lying down to eat!

Then this tom decided to hop up on the porch to munch some sunflower seeds, and when he saw his reflection in the patio door, he decided to strut his stuff and intimidate that “other” tom in the reflection! It was hilariously fun to watch!

Have a really wonderful Sunday afternoon, and be sure to always smile at your own reflection!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 37 | 2011}

2011-09-11T08:12:00.001-07:00

Before I get into this week’s photos, I have to take a moment to acknowledge the deep, deep meaning of today, September 11th … Ten years ago this morning I got a call from my brother on the East Coast – something “strange” was going on with planes crashing into buildings & I should turn on my news. Not long after, my husband came rushing home from his job at the highway department and grabbed his reserve deputy equipment, then he rushed off to the Sheriff’s Office to stand by in case this crisis spread to our side of the nation. I cancelled my sons’ homeschooling classes for the day, and we spent the day learning history as it unfolded on our television. My sons were 13 and 15 at the time. We prayed mightily that day for our nation, and for Dad as he went to report for duty. We cried. We wondered. We swelled with even more love and patriotism for our nation than we’d already had.

Now, ten years later, we still pray, we shed tears, we still wonder at the terribleness of it. And still we hold our heads high and proclaim our love for this nation of ours, this United States of America. May God bless America!

:: FOTO FUNDAY ::

A solitary dandelion stands resolutely in the front yard.

My little smiling scarecrow, all bundled up for autumn.

Lots of turkeys hanging around this week – here’s a crowd at the back feeder, scratching cracked corn from the ground.

Jim got this shot of a garter snake sliding off the waterfall in our pond – love how he caught the water pouring down the snake & running off its chin!

Bumblebees and sunflowers, ahh how I love thee!

The pasture out front is golden and beautiful.

All in one morning this week we had two different friends drop by with pickups full of firewood for us, and one of them brought these lovely treats from their garden.

I love woodpeckers and enjoyed listening to this fellow peck out a beat on the electric pole in the yard.

May you have a marvelous day!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 36}

2011-09-04T10:55:00.001-07:00

- A beautifully foggy morning from my front yard after a marvelous night’s rain (Thursday morn) -

This week I have a couple small surprises in with my photos – I’m excited!

To start, though, we did a few small home improvement projects this week. After years of having an ugly old 70s style light in my kitchen, we replaced it with this lovely track light …

I just love it! And the lighting in my kitchen is just so much better. The wiring on the old light gave us a fright, though, when we took it down. The insulation on the wires was just crumbling and we are thankful we never had a fire from this …

We’ve had lots of wild turkeys in the yard lately – dozens of babies in all different growth stages. When I pulled into the driveway returning from town the other day, a group with fairly large babies was in the driveway ahead of me. I grabbed my camera off the passenger seat and took a few shots. As I pulled closer I was amazed to see these “blonde” turkeys mixed into the group! These are really beautiful and unusual (at least to us) and we plan to check with one of our fish & game buddies to learn more about the “blondies”.

In comparison, we have seen an albino turkey in the area before. I even got a photo of one back in 2008.

I so totally love the beauty and variety in nature. Awe-inspiring!

Surprise: One of the highlights of my week was getting this fantastic new camera! It’s an early anniversary gift from my husband, and both of us are having a grand time using it!

Here is the very first photo I took with my Canon, and can you believe it, my dog actually shut her eyes as I took it! I thought only humans messed up photos by blinking at the wrong moment! lol!

Another surprise: Photos by my hubby Jim!! Here is the first photo Jim, took with the Canon …

Here’s a closeup of that little bumble bee …

Oh boy does this camera take great shots! So much better than my poor little Sony camera.

Another little critter Jim shot – he loves bugs! (Such a cute grasshopper!)

Jim shot this one in the front yard at dusk. We have a lot of stout, nearly grown fawns running around here still in full spots. Wild!

My lovely striped “wave” petunias next to my front door. I just love these!

I certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s photos. Have a marvelous Sunday afternoon!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Gone Crazy $1 {digi} Bake Sale + Birthday Buffet

2011-09-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

:: SCRAPPINESS {DIGI STYLE} ::

Yep, I’ve gone a little crazy with this month’s $1 Bake Sale – I’ve put 3 FULL-SIZE KITS in the sale!! And I have some extra wonderful news, too… instead of the usual one-day-only sale, these will be available at this great price for an ENTIRE WEEK as we celebrate GingerScrap’s 3rd Birthday this week!!

Candy Stripes {the kit} – 16 papers + 35 elements + 1 alpha

Mouth-watering and scrumptious, this kit will help you scrap your sweetest pages yet!

Painterly Scenics {the kit} – 16 papers + 35 elements + 1 alpha

Beautiful scenery and nostalgic pieces make this kit perfect for scrapping your travel, vacation, and heritage pages.

Vintage Island {the kit} – 18 papers + 40 elements + 1 alpha

Aloha! Bring the spirit of the islands to your scrapping with this collection of Hawaii-inspired elements and papers. From footprints in the sand to vintage-style postcards and brightly-colored blossoms, you will find all you need to add a little “aloha” to your pages!

… and there’s more …

Today is also the release of the newest GingerScraps Buffet: It’s My Birthday! Each of the designers created coordinating packs for this fun theme. These will all be on sale for the entire week as well for the GingerScraps Birthday Celebration. Here’s my minikit:

It’s My Birthday {the mini} – just $1 all week!

:: SCRAPPY INSPIRATION {digi} ::

:: SCRAP’N’CHAT ::

With summer wrapping up, I am holding my twice-monthly Scrap’n’Chats again at GingerScraps! Join me tonight as we kick things off while simultaneously celebrating GingerScraps’ 3rd Birthday!

All who join me tonight and have a layout posted by Saturday morning (7amPacific/10amEastern), will receive my Squiggles.Lines.Dots mini kit as a prize!!

Joy & blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Foto Funday {week 35}

2011-08-28T21:23:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, sunflowers, how I love them! All the ones at my house are “volunteers” that the birds have planted for me.

Summer has heated up pretty good here in North Idaho this month. We’ve had an abundance of those mean summer pests, bald-faced hornets, but we found one of their nests … right at the peak of our roof. Jimmy took it out the night after I shot this photo.

We’ve had lots of deer in the yard every day, including several adorable fawns …

… and even these precious twins!

And here is a beautiful mama and baby on our backyard trail.

We have had a sweet little frog living in our garage-shop all summer. I am wild about frogs and love seeing this little guy hang around. Most of the time he perches atop a plastic pitcher I have sitting on the stoop outside the door, but we recently got to watch him crawl across the wall – too fun!

The turkeys have been hanging around with all their babies. Jimmy has even been feeding them some cracked corn, which they love.

We made another trip up to the Wildlife Refuge this week, and I am so glad we did! The Canadian Geese are all staging all along Myrtle Creek as they prepare to migrate – I’ve never seen so many honkers in one place! Click to see this first one a little bit larger …

… and here’s a closer look at one of the creek banks …

And something I still can’t believe – huge white pelicans in North Idaho!! I only this year heard that pelicans actually stop at the refuge here on their annual migration, and I was thrilled to find they had arrived and I’d get to see them this visit!

Lots of small ducks, probably coots, were hanging out with the pelicans.

On our drive out to the refuge and back, we saw so much beauty all around. The fields in our area are all in various stages of being cut and baled. They look so very beautiful to me!

And here’s one more gorgeous sunflower for the road … love them!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

I Can Fly {new digi release}

2011-08-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

I Can Fly {the kit} by Cari Cruse – $3 on sale today {regularly $4}

:: The colors of yummy sherbet make this kit a delightfully tasty one to play with! Hand-doodled elements and textured papers with a touch of shabby chic will make give your pages a truly yummy look!

Contains: 12 papers + 24 elements

I Can Fly is the first digital scrapbooking kit I’m releasing in the brand new GingerScraps packaging – do you love it?? This fun kit features plenty of my handdrawn doodles, including a little birdie you might recognize from my recent hybrid clipboard.

I Can Fly {the papers} – on sale $2.25 {regularly $3}

I Can Fly {the elements} – on sale $2.25 {regularly $3}

:: SCRAPPY INSPIRATION ::

The lovely CT gals from GingerScraps had some fun playing with I Can Fly …

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Life’s Little Delays + New Site Designs!

2011-08-17T22:43:00.001-07:00

Donald Duck expresses pretty much the way I was feeling at times this past week while I was sweating every minute just waiting for my website to fully come back online! lol! … but thankfully, all is back in order! And *surprise* – I’ve done a full redesign! Some of that redesign is evident here on my blog, but be sure to take a peek at my main site, too!

After you peek there, you’ll certainly want to take a peek over at GingerScraps to see the new site makeover there, too, if you haven’t seen it yet! Too cute!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

:: random bits & pieces from my week ::

With all the website problems, I missed posting my Foto Funday this past week, but I have some great ones to go up this coming Sunday – twin fawns, dozens of baby turkeys, sunflowers, an antique metal lathe, and more! What did you photograph this week?

I submitted my application and some papercraft samples for a manufacturer’s DT call this week … trying hard not to think about it while I wait … wait … wait.

Last Saturday, my hubby and I went to a fabulous retirement dinner for a good friend whom Jim used to work with in law enforcement – a state trooper with 31 years! It was a packed hall and it was so great to see so many of our dear law enforcement friends (more like family). Being medically retired, my husband was especially blessed to see the guys he used to spend so much of his waking hours with.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week, let’s chat again soon!

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

A Wee Bit of Trouble

2011-08-11T09:17:00.001-07:00

Well I set out last night to finally transfer my main website, caricreates.com, to a much better host, which meant I also needed to transfer my domain name (with OfficeLive sites it was all part of a package, so they have to be done together). I waited until late at night so I wouldn’t have the site offline for long, I had everything set at GoDaddy for my new host & domain, I “disconnected” my site from OfficeLive which meant it was offline until I could get it switched on at GoDaddy. I went through a half dozen authorization emails and a half dozen codes to enter so my old registrar would know it really was me wanting this done. Then I finally got the email from my old registrar, MelbourneIT, acknowledging my request as genuine, and guess what it tells me? The transfer will be complete after a FOUR DAY “grace” period. Say what?? So here I sit with my main site in limbo for the week. What could possibly be the point when I have fully authenticated the whole thing. I suppose I was naïve to think I could just move my site when I want to. Definitely will not do business with MelbourneIT again. Not that I ever did intentionally anyway, it’s who OfficeLive used, but still, lesson learned…I hope.

Oh, and for anyone who’s heard me recommend using OfficeLive for free, no-ads website hosting, they announced a new Office365 deal this week that I had thought was just more of their document-sharing service. It is, but what they neglected to mention to those of who have websites on OfficeLive is that 365 is *replacing* OfficeLive, and there will be no more free hosting, in fact, the 365 site really doesn’t mention any actual webhosting that I can see so far. That’s fine for them to decide, but they ought to let their users know, especially since my site was going to auto-renew in October. So I can no longer recommend OfficeLive. I will, however, mention that I got one heck of a deal on GoDaddy by catching a sale with a sale with a coupon!

So alas, there’s my wee bit of trouble today. I have temporarily re-routed my site links in the navigation menu here on my blog to my preview site being held on GoDaddy. It just shows a little dialog box when you first go there to let you know it’s in preview mode. All the links work just fine, tho.

Before I go, I’ll share a couple of the great deals from GoDaddy – I’m really excited about moving my site there and having so much more control as well as much easier access to updating my site! I actually signed up for 48 months on everything, as the discounts I was getting made it cost a fraction of any other pricing anywhere.

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Fabulous “My Firsts” Mega on sale now {digiscrap}

2011-08-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

We have a brand new *mega* collab in the GingerScraps shop today! It is a collection of “firsts” – first tooth, first glasses, first dance, first baby, first garden, first kiss, and more, including my contribution …

My First Day of School

Amazingly, you can grab the entire humongous “My Firsts” collab for only $7 in the GingerScraps shop!!

:: SCRAPPY INSPIRATION {digi} ::

Here is a marvelous double-page layout from Jamie using items from the collab, & quite a few from my First Day of School portion …

Blessings to you!

`·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· Cari `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.·

Cari Creates! ~ Designs and More

Prepping Valentines + a Lettering Delights Sale

Wishing You All A Happy New Year!

Final Clearance: My Top 10 Favs

Merry Christmas! … a QP freebie for you

A quick ScrapIt template freebie!

Foto Funday {week 49 | 2011}

Christmas Gift … and a closeout sale …

Bountiful Blessings

Foto Funday {week 45 | 2011}

DSD Sale & Scrap’n’Chat!

Happy November!

Foto Funday {week 42 | 2011}

Foto Funday {week 41 | 2011}

Foto Funday {week 40 | 2011}

Night Fall :: the October Buffet + $ Bake Sale

Foto Funday {week 39 | 2011}

Foto Funday {week 38 | 2011}

Foto Funday {week 37 | 2011}

Foto Funday {week 36}

Gone Crazy $1 {digi} Bake Sale + Birthday Buffet

Foto Funday {week 35}

I Can Fly {*new* digi release}

Life’s Little Delays + New Site Designs!

A Wee Bit of Trouble

Fabulous “My Firsts” Mega on sale now {digiscrap}

I Can Fly {new digi release}