hello readers and those of you who just dropped in on the off chance I would have a new freebie for you. Sorry not this time, but soon I promise. I have been really out of it all lately. Gary suffered a really bad nose bleed a month or so ago which ended up in 8 ambulance call-outs, 2 stays in hospital and he is only just getting his strength back now after losing over 3 lts of blood. Scary hey! sure shook me, I really didn't cope well without him by my side for a week and a half, and even when he came home, it was a challenge to sleep through without worrying every time he stirred, that his nose was bleeding uncontrollably again. On top of all that trauma, the boys were on school holidays and Nicholas still worked a few days through the holidays... so I was running to and from the hospital as well as running him to and from work. I was, and am still, exhausted. 5 weeks ago we applied for a StepUp loan. Never heard of these... well this is a loan of an amount up to $3000 for a major purchase, such as a car, which we desperately need, offered at a low interest rate for 3 yrs, especially designed for people such as Gary and myself, on Centrelink payments, low income, discharged bankrupts and those that cannot get a loan through normal financial channels. We found the perfect vehicle and, as the loan approval was 2-3 wks, we told the car dealer we were interested and not to sell the car if he could avoid it. 5 weeks later, and because we cannot get a form from Community Services explaining Steve (our foster son) and the allowance we are paid, we are still waiting for approval, even though we have saved up the other $3000 for the car in the meantime. So desperate are we that we even tried money lenders, and still no success. I am so stressed right now, I completely lost it with Gary the other morning and spent the day in bed howling. Not that that did any good, just left me with sore eyes and a terrible headache. We are also waiting on reports back to reclassify Steve at a higher level of care than just a normal foster child. These are also taking weeks, instead of the days we were led to believe would be the case. I am so fed up! so.... are you still with me.... Thanks for letting me vent! Chris and members of the More team at Visual Designs by Chris have a wonderful Grab Bag available this month for the great price of $7.00US . Click on the preview to take you to the Store for this great deal. As a member of Chris's CT I have the privilege of working with her fantastic personal cutter files (KNK Zing and Maxx, Cricut, Silhouette, etc) only I work with them digitally. This way I get to combine my digital scrap-booking work with personal cutter files which I can use digitally as well or mix up the two for hybrid projects. In this instance I took all of the files Chris sent me and used them digitally on my pages. I add textures and styles to the cutter files to give them added dimension, and they work perfectly. These files are all in this months Grab Bag, so don't miss it! These are just a small sampling of the files the Bag contains. Plus, there is an Early Bird file available for quick purchases, but only for a short time. Firstly I used CD00934 - Autumn. My favourite time of the year. The Word Art is actually a personal cutter file that I have added textures and styles to. I created this layout in Photoshop CS5. Credits: CD00934 - Autumn; cshneider-seq5to8S2-pg2; wlop - Vivaldi; APD_Mystic Springs; aprilisa_Built Boy Tough; armina - April; BellaGypsy - GoOutside. Second layout uses CD00935-Happy Halloween. In this layout the title "Happy Halloween", the Witch and the Moon are the personal cutter files. Once again I have played with them in PSCS5 and this is the result. Credits: Shappy Princess-Holiday Sampler-Halloween; image from Internet; CD00935-Happy Halloween. My third layout uses CD00936 - Got Mud. The title and the ATV Quad bike are the personal cutter files in this layout. As we don't have a quad bike, the pictures for this layout came from the internet. Credits: cap_goteam_template2; CD00936 - Got Mud; GDS_Collab_Jun12_Mr Adventurous. My last layout uses CD00938 - Fish Fish. My hubby and my eldest love fishing, actually the youngest likes fishing too, it just isn't always practical to take him along for a day long trip. The "chipboard" boy holding his catch and the title are the personal cutter files on this layout. They look great don't they! Credits: CD00938 - Fish Fish; GDS - Collab-0609_Catch Of The Day; cap_KeepItEven_Template 3 As you can see, personal cutter file description doesn't preclude you from using your files digitally if you wish. Sometimes, you just want to put a layout together quickly and not have to get out the card, paper and so on. Digi is sometimes the better way to go.... but unlike digital scrapbooking files, you always have the option of cutting them out on your personal cutter as well!! For sticking with me for this long, I will promise to make a huge effort and get back here with a freebie soon. In the meantime, scroll down... some of my files are still available as I havent had the chance to remove the links yet. Check 'em out! Have a wonderful day wherever you are!