The dying die cutter :(

Hi all!

Well after much frustration and many setbacks I finished a 2 page layout.  As you know I am getting back to scrapping after a bit of a break.  I am trying to be more active on Splitcoast Stampers as a way to keep motivated.  One of the challenges in the scrapbooking area is a monthly goals challenge.  Now I am no crazy scrapper - I figure I have maybe 65 pages to do to be caught up plus whatever pages happen to come along the way throughout the year,  This puts me at an easy goal of 6-7 pages per month.  I was on a roll I tell ya.  I organized my books, finished going through my photo files and knew what I needed to start with and had a game plan.  I have already come up with a good way to organize and scrap to get caught up which you can read about in this post:

Getting Organized to Catch Up

I was on a ROLL people!  I had another 2 pager all finished except for the die cuts - hunted down an SVG set that would be perfect, spent an evening getting it all sized for cutting, got another layout sketch done and THOSE SVGs also sized for cutting, put that page together too - 3 pages ready to go.  Hooked up to my Black Cat and suddenly, it won't cut right!!!!!  EGADS!  I LOVE that thing, I use it constantly, I NEED it!  I think, maybe I just need a new blade, I order more but to no avail.  Hubby watched me spend 3 days trying everything under the sun, emailing back and forth trying to get it to work.  Nothing.  I must have gone through a dozen sheets of cardstock.  Finally, in the interest of getting AT LEAST another 2 pager done for the month I had to forge ahead and get another layout done so I moved onto these Christmas pictures from 2009:

I like that I was able to fit so many pictures in and they are nice sized too.  It is pretty simple and uncomplicated.  I used this sketch but can't for the life of me remember where I got it form - most likely Page Maps since that's where I get most of them but I have also been trolling Pinterest for sketches too - it's so easy!

I thought the title area would be perfect for a stamped image.  This image is from a very old Inkadinkado set and is colored with colored pencils.

I gave the snowy part a good coating of Stickles.  So what do y'all think!  Tomorrow I will post my LAST layout for 2009 and tell you what I have decided to do about my SVG problem - you may want to stay tuned!  It's exciting!  Now I need to go through 2010 and see which layouts I have done and which I have left to do!