uhhh

I received two super-fabulous gifts this Christmas.

This:

It's the Cricut Expression.

and This:

A fancy schmancy sewing machine from my Mother-In-Law.

I've wanted both of these lovelies for awhile now - so Imagine my sheer JOY when I got BOTH of them for Christmas!

In my mind, I've carefully planned out all the fabulousness that I'll create with these items. My imaginary list is insanely long... filled with lovely etsy inspired goodness.

The funny thing is, now that I have them, I've find myself doing a lot of this:

Why???

Maybe it's because I spend most of my day walking around in a caffeine-induced stupor. These days, I'm just plain STOOPID.

I've read the manuals and looked at countess websites explaining how to use both machines, but the details keep getting lost in my fuzzy baby brain. Reading them is a little like trying to read Chinese.

Honestly, just remembering my name seems like a huge feat...worthy of rewarding myself with - oh I don't know - maybe something like a large container of ice cream.

Anyway - making a little board definitely seemed less daunting than attempting to conquer the 2 machines, so that's what I did.
Here's a picture of my winter-themed board:

I tried some different techniques with this one. I used sandpaper to distress the paper but also used Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut Stain to "dirty" it up too.
I love it. I want to put it on everything. It gives paper such a cool look.
I also added a little charm - Cause it's pretty and I had it leftover from another project.

I'm planning on putting on my big girl swimming pants and braving the unchartered Cricut/Sewing Machine waters soon.

Wish me luck!