Saturday morning quickie.

The weekend is here - but guess what? - I have to work. We are printing at a new location starting on Monday and have all this conversion stuff to do - so I have to be there at 2 this afternoon. What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon, eh? At the office....

No word on layoffs. Actually, I take that back - there was a word. And the word was they submitted the plan to Corporate who rejected it and jacked up the number. Translation - the number of people you were going to layoff just went up. I stayed to work late last night - hence no card this morning - and as I was leaving, my boss was standing right behind me and asked how I was doing. I lost it... :(

Lots to do today.....grocery shopping....Costco....and Paper Cottage - need a piece or 2 of some bright Spring DP to brighten my mood....and then of course working this afternoon. Oh, and I'll be on tattoo patrol today as well - instead of the usual ONE tattoo like on your wrist, D decided to put an ENTIRE SHEET of tattoos on his belly; gotta run - apparently he's putting a Transformer tattoo somewhere on his sister!

Hope you have a FAB weekend!

Grandma's Birthday *tutorial*

(regular readers, scroll down for today's *real* post)

OK folks - I have never written a tutorial before and when Patricia asked me I could not say no, but admittedly I was (still am) a little intimidated by this task. But I'll give it my best shot to walk you through this cute little set for grandma and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm a talker in case you didn't know, so this is more conversational than step-by-step clinical, you know.....but it's super easy and again, feel free to ask questions!

Let's start with grandma's card. I cut my 8.5x11 White Felt Grandee in half lengthwise at 4.25 because I knew with the balloons I would need this to be a tall card. Scored the paper at 5.5. You probably know all that stuff. I then cut some Pink Lemonade Pop Tones paper to 4-1/8 and 5-5/8 and glued that on with my handy dandy AdTech glue runner. I wanted something fun instead of lacey and frilly so I cut a piece of Pearl Vellum to 4-1/8 by about 1.5 inches and then used my Fiskars paper punch; glued that down. I layered a 4-1/8 x about 1.5 inch piece of Aquamarine Metallic Text on it so that I could stamp a long, thin sentiment and then on top of that I layered some fun dot ribbon that I got on clearance at Craft Warehouse. To make this card more "crafty" I stitched a fun pattern around the top edges. Next step was to get my sentiments on - Papertrey Ink sentiments for both the top and the bottom. And now it was time for the BALLOONS - do balloons not scream birthday? I punched 3 balloons with my Martha Stewart balloon punch in Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Lemon Drop Pop Tones and Emerald Metallic Text and then I did a couple of things for the string treatment. I put a Zot dot on the bottom back of each balloon and then laid some thick coat string on top of it with the string coming down the bottom center of the balloon and then I put a dimensional in the middle of the balloon but overlapping the Zot dot a little for extra security. I pulled my strings all down together and tied them in a little knot and then punched a bow with my Martha Stewart bow punch in Wild Cherry Pop Tones and adhered that with another little Zot dot right over the knot. And then I cut the strings to dangle down together at all one length. My card looked OK here, but it needed something. I really wanted my balloons to pop - figuratively speaking ;) - so I put some Glossy Accents over the pink and the yellow - the emerald one had pop all of it's own with the metallic shimmer. I debated on whether or not to add the bling strip at the bottom but I felt like that one layer end between the aquamarine and the vellum needed something, and besides, grandma's love bling!

Grandma's notebook was super easy: working with scraps from the matching card. I used Tombow glue (the green and white bottle) to adhere some Pink Lemonade Pop Tones to the front and back and then trimmed off the excess. You really need to invest in a good pair of scissors - I have a little pair of Singer ones that are super sharp and for big ones I have the Martha Stewart ones. Then I just worked with my scraps from the card - I had a teeny piece of the scalloped border and didn't want it to go to waste (I waste nothing) so I put that down to have a little extra sticking out and it would help carry the theme. Then I used a piece of Aquamarine Metallic Text and cut off the excess again, next I layered some remnant ribbon and trimmed that too. I decided to use a flower here because I needed something in the corner to cover up the border piece edge because it was too small to go the same width as the aquamarine piece. So I used my flower Nesties and made a flower and topped it with a Foofala button with some coat thread tied on (I really believe that if you are using buttons, you need to thread them...unless you are using a lot and it's a complete pain, but I think it gives it a more finished and crafty look). The flower and the button again are adhered with Zot dots. I stamped the sentiment in the top corner and it just felt a little naked to me. I'm still not sure about the bling that I used - new stuff from Prima - but again: grandma loves bling!

Grandma's candy tin was easy peasy too! The little tin was one of those clearance things that you buy and swear you'll use for something (I have a box of like 20 of these little guys now) and all I did was cut a strip of Pink Lemonade Pop Tones about 1.5 inches wide by about 10 inches in length (better to have too much than not enough) and I put a little piece of tacky tape on the bottom, and pulled the paper up and around each side and then adhered the top with tacky tape as well. I used a Marvy Uchida circle punch to get that Lemon Drop Pop Tones circle, adhered that with a dimensional for some height, made another Nesties flower in Emerald Metallic Text, adhered that with a dimensional and then I found a bright fuschia Doodlebug glitter button that I tied with coat thread and adhered with a Zot dot. Oh! And I filled this with leftover Valentine m&ms BEFORE I ran my paper around it...I used just the pink and white m&ms and left out the red ones so that it didn't look totally leftover Valentiney ;)

And there you have it!

If I've confused you or left something out - just holler, I am more than happy to answer any questions.

- S U P P L I E S -

CARD:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - White Felt Grandee, Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Lemon Drop Pop Tones, Pearl Vellum, Aquamarine Metallic Text, Emerald Metallic Text, Wild Cherry Pop Tones
Other Supplies: Misc. ribbon from Craft Warehouse, Papertrey Ink ink & stamps, Hero Arts bling, Martha Stewart balloon & ribbon punches, Fiskars border punch, coat thread, sewing machine

NOTEBOOK:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Pearl Vellum, Aquamarine Metallic Text, Emerald Metallic Text
Other Supplies: Misc. ribbon from Craft Warehouse, Foofala button, coat thread, Papertrey Ink ink & stamp, Prima bling

CANDY TIN:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Lemon Drop Pop Tones, Emerald Metallic Text
Other Supplies: Doodlebug button, coat thread, tin from Target bridal section

This is not gonna be a good day....

.....we think that the layoffs are imminent - happening today.

Don't know how many people...or who...there's talk of furloughs as well. But I have to say, to save my job, I wouldn't mind taking a week or two off without pay - that just means more cards with less spending but hey, I like scrap cards. I saw the meetings yesterday...the big bosses...the hours of closed doors...the looks on their faces...just not good. And I still feel sick to my stomach.

*deep breath*

And then I just finished my antibiotic last Sunday....for Strep...and was feeling good as new and then yesterday morning I woke up and couldn't swallow :( Called the Doc and he called in ANOTHER antibiotic for me. So we'll see...probably just in time because I feel like my head is getting warm and that it's going to explode any second.

I cannot wait for this day to be over.

Anywho - I threw this card together last night for Amber's Viva la Verve sketch challenge. I had to get it done because you have to do all (4) in the month to be eligible to win the entire new release set that comes out March 8th. Woooooooooooo - new Verve stamps! Again this is a card made all from scraps - and, the twist was you had to use acetate. Mother Earth owes me - I used a piece of acetate that was in some flowers packaging and just ran it through my Cuttlebug to cut out the flower. This card is pretty, but not perfect. However - with a sentiment like "you're in my thoughts and prayers" is the receiver really going to complain about a few rough edges?

Happy Friday, Girls!
- thanks for dropping by; much appreciated.

www.PaperTemptress.com - *long post*

Now why would I be promoting a paper website?

Uh-huh...I've been keeping a little secret from you all.

And the secret is.....

I made a DT!

Indeed - Patricia at Paper Temptress sent me my package of wonderful paper and I have been busy designing for over a week now because we had a big release party last night at PCP. Everyone knows the only paper I have ever used - and love - is Papertrey Ink stuff. I didn't know there was anything else! But Patricia sent me the most AMAZING papers to work with and I had a BLAST. I HIGHLY recommend you getting over there and ordering some of her papers - especially the Sandy Stripe Vellum and the Laser Silver Lustre; just order a sheet or 2 to try it, you will L O V E it - guaranteed.

So wanna see what I made?

Supplies for Perfect...
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Teal Felt Grandee, Vintage Silver Lustre, Epic Black Column
Other Supplies: Barbara Trombley's art glitter, Lil Davis Designs stamp, Papertrey Ink ink, Making Memories ribbon & buckle, Spellbinders Nestibilities; SU! flower brad

Supplies for A True Friend….
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Gray Leather, Aquamarine Metallic Text, Emerald Metallic Text
Other Supplies: Fiskars border punch, We R Memory Keepers eyelet & Crop-A-Dile; Papertrey Ink ink & ribbon, Verve stamp, Prima Inc. Say It With Crystals, Spellbinder Nestibilities

Supplies for Thanks so much….
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Copper Metallic Text, Sandy Stripe Vellum
Other Supplies: Hero Arts stamp, Papertrey Ink ink, American Crafts ribbon, We R Memory Keepers eyelet & Crop-A-Dile

Supplies for As for me and my house…
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Kraft Cardstock, Sandy Stripes Vellum, Wild Cherry Pop Tones
Other Supplies: Martha Stewart border punch, Verve stamp, Papertrey Ink ink & ribbon, We R Memory Keepers corner embellishment

Supplies for Friend where would I be without you….
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - White Diamond Metallic, Mountain Rose Glimmer, Hot Fudge Pop Tones
Other Supplies: Michael's Bridal Elegance ribbon, K and Company pearl heart, Heidi Swapp mirror & acetate hearts, EK Success heart punch, Papertrey Ink ink, Autumn Leaves stamp, Spellbinders Nestibilities

Supplies for Friends always.....
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Golden Glow Irridescent, Pearl Vellum, Hot Fudge Pop Tones
Other Supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Papertrey Ink ribbon & ink, Encore ink, K&Company gem, We R Memory Keepers eyelet & Crop-A-Dile, Heidi Swapp strip bling

Supplies for the 35th Anniversary card….
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Wild Cherry Pop Tones, Cappuccino Metallic Text, Laser Silver Lustre
Other Supplies: Papertrey Ink ink, stamps & ribbon, EK Success heart punch, We R Memory Keepers hardware numbers

Supplies for Grandmother's Birthday...
CARD:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - White Felt Grandee, Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Lemon Drop Pop Tones, Pearl Vellum, Aquamarine Metallic Text, Emerald Metallic Text, Wild Cherry Pop Tones
Other Supplies: Misc. ribbon from Craft Warehouse, Papertrey Ink ink & stamps, Hero Arts bling, Martha Stewart balloon & ribbon punches, Fiskars border punch, coat thread, sewing machine
NOTEBOOK:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Pearl Vellum, Aquamarine Metallic Text, Emerald Metallic Text
Other Supplies: Misc. ribbon from Craft Warehouse, Foofala button, coat thread, Papertrey Ink ink & stamp, Hero Arts bling
CANDY TIN:
Paper: all paper from Paper Temptress - Pink Lemonade Pop Tones, Lemon Drop Pop Tones, Emerald Metallic Text
Other Supplies: Doodlebug button, coat thread, tin from Target bridal section

* whew *

That was exhausting - but F U N!

And I'm obviously very excited.

Thanks for stopping in, Girls!

My First Papertrey Ink BLOG HOP!!

Hello and welcome to my very first Blog Hop with Papertrey Ink.

I am so excited to be a part of this monthly event and looking forward to blog-hopping
and checking out what other people made with this month's theme in mind.

And, I'm so excited that more people are coming to my blog!

Wooooooooooo - we're having company, girls!

The challenge for this month was to put a "spring" in to your step - you know, create something with Spring in mind.

This is the card I made for the occasion....:

I used Papertrey Ink: Plum Pudding cardstock & Swiss dot ribbon; *new* Bitty Dot Basics DP;
*new* Melon Berry cardstock; Ripe Avocado ink; *new* Tags for Spring stamps; Stamper's Select white cardstock.

Other: Martha Stewart felt applique flower; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder; Spellbinder's Nestibilities dies;
Hero Arts purple bling; Ranger Glossy Accents; Ice Stickles; Kaisercraft pearl; dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by -
- hope to see you again soon!

Ash Wednesday.

I'm not gonna go and get all religious on y'all because I believe that Faith is a personal and private thing. You are what you are and I am what I am and I'm not here to say that my religion is any better than what yours is or what you choose to believe or practice or not. Having said that - I'm Catholic and I have no problem talking about it. What that means for me is that today is the first day of Lent. And, a sacrifice is expected. A lot of people give up things like chocolate, soda pop, smoking, stuff like that. I don't smoke....and my diet is pretty restrictive right now, so, my sacrifice is a little different but a sacrifice just the same - at least for me.

In case you haven't noticed, the language on my blog has changed for about a month now. Truth be told: I applied to be on a design team and the owner of the company came to my blog and then e-mailed me and basically condemned me for my foul language. Now I'm from the school of John 8:7 which says "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." What she said to me was pretty self-righteous, I thought. I mean she didn't even know me and just, well, completely condemned me. But I'll tell you what - I'm not a sellout; I am who I am, you love me or you hate me and that's fine - life goes on. So I didn't change for her. However I did think about it - a prospective business owner probably would not want me and the language that I was using to be a representation of their product. I get that. But she made me feel like I was a bad person because I curse...and it kinda made me sad :( I'm sure there are worse people out there than me, like women that cheat on their husbands, but because they don't curse - does that make them better than me? I don't think so.

Anyway, yes, I'll admit it - the eff word is a word I say A LOT. Mostly at work, sometimes in a social setting or girlfriend chat; it's not dinner vernacular and my kids haven't picked up potty mouth because I don't curse around them. My beloved Yaya used to tell me that I had the mouth of a "troquera" - truck driver :) So that's my plan, my sacrifice - abolish the eff word from my vocabulary - at least for the next 4o days. I'm H U M A N - remember that; but I'm going to give it my best effort. Wish me luck with that!

Moving right along....

I made a card last night to participate in my very first Papertrey Ink Blog Hop today. BUT - you can't post the card on your blog until a certain time. Soooo....you're going to have to come back after 5pm EST to check out my card.

AND THEN!! Tomorrow - I'll have LOTS to share ;)

Have a great Wednesday, Girlies!

It's Fat Tuesday!

LOL - that's every Tuesday for me!

So what am I? - the booger-eatin' 4-eyed fat kid that eats lunch by herself or something?

(that's only partially true, you know...)

It was my 100th blog post, big party - and only 3 people came; sad. :(

I'm whooped. Monday was rough. D stayed with my mother because he still had the stomach flu. Rob's down 23 pounds, I'm down 38 pounds - that's 61 pounds combined in 7 weeks which is not too shabby. I've lost weight before so he knows what I look like with 100+ pounds less on me though I can't imagine what he'd look like if he lost 100 pounds. Weird.

My new Papertrey Ink order came yesterday and even though I was so tired, I made a couple of cards. I pirated something I saw on Dawn McVey's blog to make these cards. They are both the same format, just different.

This second card, my friend Vicki (the invalid) is celebrating her 35th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks and asked how much I would charge her to make a card for her to give to her husband. I was so flattered - and I couldn't see myself charging a dear friend. Someone asked for one of MY cards! I felt like I was good or something. All she said was that he was in the Navy when they met. So I went with this Men of Life DP from Papertrey that I have never used and put this together for her. I actually LOVE it and I think she will too. The only thing I don't like about it is that I stamped a 3 and a 5 and "Happy Anniversary" on the inside but I don't care for the way it came out. But as I'm sitting here writing this it just dawned on me that I can re-do it on a separate piece of CS and cover it up and have it look like the layer was meant to be ;)

Alright girls - eat up...only 24 hours left until the beginning of Lent. I haven't decided yet what I am giving up - but I'm leaning towards M A J O R sacrifice this year (no, not cardmaking...and not food....but close....you'll find out tomorrow!).

Thanks for stopping in - I appreciate you.

100 - * woop woop *

THIS is my 100th blog post!

I don't know why milestones matter in the blog world, but people celebrate them, so what the heck - Yay ME!!

And what a perfect coincidence that my 100th post and subsequent celebration would coincide with the day that I am the host over at Fun-Frilled. This week's theme was Mardi Gras. I made up the weekly themes and can I just tell you how hard this week's was for me?? More about that over there. Anyway - so here is a little peek at the card that I made, but you'll have to head over to FF to check out the rest of it.

Happy Monday, Girls!

Special.

I had the greatest Saturday ever yesterday!

{that is until D started throwing up at 11pm last night}

K and I left the house at 8 o'clock to be the first ones in to Archiver's. They were having lots of sales - got me a new cutter for 1/2 price - free stickers for the first hour, and make-and-takes. K did both make-and takes: a thank-you card, and a journaling card that she'll probably use for a postcard to send to her grandparents as we aren't in to scrapbooking. The free stickers went perfect with some DP they had out there so we got her 2 pieces of DP so that she could make her own cards at home.

This is the thank-you make-and take that she made....she actually did a good job with it and then came home and wrote it out to her grandparents as thanks for the Valentine goodies that they sent. I am big on handwritten notes myself and have gotten the kids in to doing it so much so that they are reminding me that they need to do them after a gift has been received. I know for me, when I send something I want to know that number one it was received and number two, that the person is thankful or pleased with it. I have family - well, HIS family ;) - that is HORRIBLE about thanking and it drives me insane. Case in point: I spent about $500 on my SIL's baby shower...bought her a Betsy Johnson diaper bag, had it overflowing with clothes and stuff, got handmade favors done for her, the works - and to this day I have neither seen a card or heard 2 words from her about it. Rude.

After Archiver's, we went to get my pedicure done - but they weren't open for 45 minutes. Nearest thing was Wal*Mart. Yes, I said it - we went to Wal*Mart. *gasp* They had 75%-off Valentine clearance and 75% off Made in China is practically free so yeah, I got some stuff. Then it was back to the pedicure place where K chose some odd purple for me. It reminds me of purple Play-Doh: bright but dull at the same time. I tried to get K to get her fingernails done but she didn't want to. I think the Asians talking so fast and not in English sort of scared her; maybe next time. Got home and she said she was going to go make a card. I thought with notebook paper or something. I had no idea she went and got her Archiver's bag and used her new GOOD stuff. She cut the DP and then smacked a sticker on there and wrote MOMMY and had herself a card. She was so proud of herself - I didn't have the heart to tell her that the penguin sticker went with the penguin DP and the flower sticker went with the flower DP.

Spent the rest of the day crafting and doing laundry while they all went geocaching. And then I got caught up on Top Chef. Awww - I LOVED Jeff AND Fabio! Stefan should have gone - he's a cocky one for sure. I'm rooting for Carla - the dark horse; Stefan I liked until these last few episodes, Hosea is a boob, so, Carla it is!

Have a wonderful day, Girls!
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to show me some love - it's very much appreciated.

Jingle bells, jingle bells....

...jingle all the way....oh McFun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh-ay! Did you catch that? "oh McFun" - LOL We were coming home from the church carnival last night and that's what D sang. I am still laughing. We had to ask him what "McFun" was and he insisted that's what the song said. Rob told him that "McFun" is something you do at McDonald's - ha ha ha. I'll tell you what - that carnival was the coolest thing - for $12 we got dinner (4 hamburgers, 1 hot dog, nachos, 1 cookie, 2 cupcakes, 4 drinks) and tickets for the games. TWELVE BUCKS! Tell me that's not a deal for Friday night dinner and entertainment and little crappy prizes that are going to be all over the house by the end of the weekend. Well it was a good time; we had McFun - heh.

OK - no card for today - I was working on something, but I can't show it to you yet. So I'm just going to tease you *neener neener neener*.

K and I are off to Archiver's this morning for a big sale and make-and-take. I'm letting her do the free card (she can practice on their cardstock and not my good stuff - heh). And then I'm going to get a pedicure - my toes are in desperate need of some love.

Have a GREAT Saturday, Girls -
- hope you have McFun!

Friends.

Happy Friday, Girlfriends!

Apparently I'm still on a friends kick. I've learned a lot about friendship lately: communication, forgiveness, random acts of kindness, pay it forward; all that good stuff. So I made a couple of cards for some special people - with friendship in mind.

D was running a fever last night; waiting to see how he is when he wakes up. We have the church carnival tonight - I am taking 2 cakes for the cake walk; oh how I love C A K E!!

Thanks for stopping in -
- and have a beautiful Friday!

Wooooo - Danny Gokey!

Yes, I am obsessed with reality TV. American Idol is like my personal Jesus. It's the piece de resistance in the world of reality shows for me. When it was down to Danny and Tatiana I knew it would be him. Although I was surprised that the blonde bimbo made it through, man, she's so boring.

Anywho - here's a couple of scrap cards I made. I love it when you think something is not going to turn out and then all of a sudden it turns out better than you thought it would. I could say that applies to both cards - but especially the second card which I loves.

Thanks for stopping in today and showin' me some love!

Do y'all love American Idol?

- I do; and that's why there's only 1 card today - LOL I have to tell you - that freakshow Tatiana is growing on me. She was totally the best female of the night. And how can you not love Danny Gokey! :( Poor guy. He's adorable, and man can he sing!

How's this for the highlight of my Tuesday: I went out with one of my reps to see a client - AT THEIR HOUSE (which is totally against the rules) - and they opened the door and 3 big greyhound dogs started, uh, I think it's called *humping* my legs and sticking their noses in my uh...yeah...front and back - OMG The lady was like "oh, they're just friendly"; to which I politely asked her to get her dog out of my arse! I am NOT an animal lover....dogs, cats - don't ask - just not...and when they violate me like that I feel completely validated in my disdain for them.

Anywho - I went to Archiver's yesterday at lunch to get something for someone but they didn't quite have the something so I bought them another something and bought me some My Mind's Eye DP. Put together this fun little scripture card; Jesus can be fun, you know!

Happy Wednesday, Girls!

Thanks for stopping in - I really appreciate it.

And Heather & Jaycie - shout out to you girls who aren't even making cards {yet} and showed up at Fun-Frilled; much love, Girls; thanks for the support.
I {heart} you.

Quickie....

.....just a quick post this morning - took too long for both of these cards to dry so I'm in a hurry to get them posted and get movin'. I'm staying home 1/2 day today because K has been throwing up since Saturday night - ugh!

This first card I like but I may have overblinged it. I don't care though - if you're sending someone a card to let them know you were thinkin' of them and they are going to critique the excessive bling on the card, well, that's just not right. It's the thought that counts, right?!

Now this card I LOVE. I went to Michael's yesterday at lunchtime with a 50% off coupon and bought this Martha Stewart balloon punch. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it the second I laid eyes on it. "And can I just tell you" how pleased I am with myself? This card feels like I channeled Michelle Wooderson - totally her style with the frilly ribbon and the Cosmo Cricket paper. It's kind of not me but I love it.

Couple of quick notes:
- it's not cancer :)
- Fun-Frilled had a FAB response on day one
Thanks for stopping in and showin' me some love, Girls!

Hope your Monday is Fun-Frilled! :)

That's right - today is the big day!!
The all-new Fun-Frilled goes live this morning. A site with daily inspiration of cards and occasional projects. I'm so excited about it! Be sure and check it out - every day there will be a new designer with a different project to share. It's a very talented and fun group of girls. Oh - and did I mention that there is BLOG CANDY there today? That's right - for all you crafters out there, head on over and enter to win some craft booty!

I am the host today and this week's theme was a Fun & Frilly card - paying homage to the site obviously. This is what I came up with... I thought the sentiment was fun and the border punch, glitter paper and satin dot ribbon were frilly. Yes, I have used these colors recently - obviously I {heart} them.

While watching the rain-shortened Daytona 500 yesterday I worked on a couple of simple cards. It's very difficult to watch the race on the tele, listen to Casey's scanner , watch Casey on TrackPass, and think about making a card, so simple is what worked for me. A simple get well soon card and a simple thank-you card. I have friends and family outside of the state of Idaho who are so thoughtful to us and the kids that I am easily sending out 1 thank-you per week so I can never have too many of these. And unfortunately, the same goes for the get well cards - doesn't it seem to come in spurts where people are getting sick or battling some sort of major illness? Sad - but it feels good to send a kind thought their way.

Alright girlies, that's it for me today.
I hope everyone has a great start to their week.
Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Goooooooooooo CASEY!!!

For those of you that don't know, today is the Daytona 500 - the first Cup race of the NASCAR season. "And can I just tell you" how flippin' excited I am?! My driver is Casey Mears who starts this season off with yet another team in another ride. But it's a hot one: the 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet. Too bad I don't have a voice to cheer for him, but by golly I'll express myself somehow!

Ugh...as I type this I hear rodents in the attic YET AGAIN. It's been what, 6 months of this? 6 months, 4 visits, 2 different pest control companies. And I hear them - right above me...right over my BEDROOM. It's the most sickening and disturbing thing. I wonder if I can do the firecracker arrow thing like they did in Steel Magnolias and just blow them out of there? Hmmm....

I was feeling better by dinnertime last night - not great, but better. So we took the kids to mother's, took Valentine goodies to my invalid friend, and went downtown to Cool Hand Luke's. It was REALLY good. Good prices, huge portions, good service. We don't eat out much, but we'd go back there for sure.

Wasn't feeling super creative yesterday so I only made a couple of cards.

This first one is sort of a beat the winter blahs with Spring kinda card. Still lovin' my Nesties flower dies - LOL

And this card I made with some new My Mind's Eye paper that I picked up at a little scrapbooking store in Meridian. It's actually cheaper there than the scrapbooking stores here in Boise, but, to save 20-40-cents a sheet to drive out of the way to a small store with not a lot of selection I'm not sure it's worth it. Anyway, I made this card for my daughter's first day of school (kindergarten) in the fall. We were just talking the other day about how I'm going to have to incorporate doing her hair every morning before school - I let Rob do it now that she's just in pre-school - and talking about putting those pink foam rollers in her hair every night just like my mom used to do to me before school back in the day. It'll be here soon enough *sigh*

Oh yeah - wanted to share something else with you all. A little sidejob I've got. I made the header for my blog - and I really enjoyed making it. I heard Megan talking about wanting a new header but not knowing how to make one, so I offered to make hers. Then Miss Molly was saying she needed one and didn't know how....so I offered to make hers. And then my girl Roni from my BOTB group said the same thing - so I offered to make hers. Pretty cool, eh? A fun little change for me to do - and if you know me, you know that I like doing things for other people...out of the kindness of my heart and that I really do take pleasure in knowing that I made their day or that they enjoyed something that I gave to them or did for them. They all seemed pretty pleased - and that warmed my heart.

Alright girls - Sunday = Race Day from now through November 22nd (with a few bye weeks); so don't call when the race is on - LOL

Thanks for stopping by;
I appreciate you all!

Happy ♥ Day!

Happy ♥ Valentine's ♥ Day, Girls!

Are you doing anything special today? We're taking the kids over to my mom's this evening and going out to dinner at a new steakhouse in town - Cool Hand Luke's. My boss says they have the best ribeye - and I'm all about the ribeye! After that it's home for the Papertrey release party - LOL What a romantic way to spend the night, eh? Anyway - I hope you all have a ♥ lovely ♥ day.

So it's official - I have strep. No big deal, don't cry for me Argentina, I get it quite often. I started my Penicillin midday yesterday and hope to be swallowing soon without wincing at pain that feels like I am swallowing razor blades {ouch}. But while I was off yesterday I made a mess of cards. Again I dug into my scrap box for all of these cards "and can I just tell you how impressed with them, I am?"

This is just a simple blase' thank you card. It's probably my least fave and I think it's because it doesn't pop. I'm sending it to my husband's aunt who sent me a bunch of clothes that she got from a friend - talk about hand-me-downs! I have to say though, his aunt is like 85 and I was thinking these clothes were going to be...you know...um...old-ladyish - LOL But they weren't - there was some really cute stuff in the lot and I can't wait to get down just a tad more and wear it all comfortably.

I made this one with a new stamp set I got from Target - on clearance ;) It's a set of 6 stamps, nice and big like this - and I like big sentiments.

Now this card is a tri-purpose card. The sketch is from Amber's Viva la Verve challenge this week. There was a twist to this challenge in that it had to be a monochromatic card - all 1 color plus a neutral; I went with PTI's Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream with some brownish buttons because there was also a PTI challenge to make a card using the same colors that Dawn McVey used on one of her cards - and she did a lovely Praying for You card that was Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream! This week's Whatchadoin' Wednesday challenge at Storage Units, Ink & More was also to make a monochromatic card. So there ya' go - I participated in 3 challenges with 1 card!

These next 2 cards are total cuties - and I ♥ them. With the exception of the buttons, these are all Papertrey Ink cards. PTI is coming out with buttons tomorrow with their new colors - so soon I will be able to make a card like this and have it be an all PTI card! Sooooo excited for the release tomorrow!

*whew*
All that cardmaking wore me out!
Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping in!
♥

Lotsa fun stuff.

I ordered some new goodies and they came in the mail yesterday. I ordered the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder - I have been eyeing this for months and not been able to find it locally, I finally got it at Cut @ Home. That little $4.99 cheap thing was incredibly elusive. Along with that I got the flower Nesties. Plan on seeing these elements a lot in the near future until the novelty wears off - ha.

This card is incredibly cute in person - though I had a heck of a time photographing it and I'm not sure why. Don't you love those dots with the polka dots and the flower? I sure do! Oh and have you noticed I've been rounding my edges lately too? I bought the border rounding punch a while back at Target - but was looking at it and thought it was going to make a design and that I had bought the wrong thing. I tried it on a whim the other day and it worked - exactly what I wanted and thought it would do; I felt so retarded.

And this card I was so afraid of what the final product would look like "and can I just tell you how much I love the way it turned out?" I'm going to the Dawn McVey school of putting colors together that you never would have thought of - she always seems to make it work. I like this style a lot better than the total matchy-matchy.


Saved the best for last here - pictures of my son at his Valentine's party yesterday (1st grade). Can you see that he's missing his 2 front teeth? How cute is that? Man did that chocolate cupcake look good! Obviously I didn't dress him yesterday or he would have had on red - although red clashes with his red hair; I don't know, but blue camo would not have been my choice for the Valentine's party!



It's Friday, Girls - woop woop!

BUT - I'm sick :(

I am 99% sure I have strep again. Going to call in sick and go see the Doc. I am skeered though because I get strep A LOT and I think he mentioned if I got it again he'd have to take my tonsils out - noooooo.

But YOU enjoy YOUR day! ;)

And I hope your Friday the 13th is better than mine!

Lazy craftin'.

Man I'm tired. I think the layoff announcement and the waiting for the who and when news is taking it's toll on me....along with the week we have to wait for Rob's biopsy results. I stopped at Target on the way home from work last night to pick up some toilet paper. We always have extra in the garage but finally we were straight empty. So I ran in there just for toilet paper - an hour and $50 later.... I made it home to miss the start of American Idol, so I just watched the taped show from Tuesday and then just chilled with Rob on the couch and got to cardmaking late. I was too lazy to get out different paper than what was already on my crafting table, so I made a card similar to yesterday's card. This however, is another freestyle - meaning no sketch, no requirements - just all me free-creating. "And can I just tell you" how happy I am with this card? I was thinking it wouldn't be good enough to want to keep so I was going to use it for a Mother's Day card swap that I am in, but have since decided this will be for the kids to give to their grandmothers for Mother's Day.

Today should be a good day - I am only working half day and then off to go to D's Valentine's party at school and then instead of going back to the office, he and I will do something together. Maybe I can sucker him in to going to a new scrapbooking store that opened up and I have a coupon for - heh. I think it's over by the Krispy Kreme so I might talk him in to it with a donut ;)

Have a great day, Girls - the weekend is almost here again!!

Big News Wednesday.

Well, I don't know how to say it, so I'm just gonna blurt it out -

I AM FINALLY ON A DT!!

It's really quite funny because I'm on the DT of a group that I created - ha. I got tired of all the rejection and I'm not really the patient type, so, I holla'd at a buncha my girls, went and found a newbie, and together we have formed a new group called Fun-Frilled. Get it? Like fun-filled, little play-on-words action goin' on there with the frill...like frilly. If you like the name, it was all my idea, and if you don't, it was Heather's - ha! If you're in to cardmaking, you can check out the new site here: http://funfrilled.blogspot.com/ And if you aren't, my Monday card that I do for Fun-Frilled will also be posted here on my blog, so you don't have to surf alllll the way over there to find my stuff.

And look over there ----->

I finally gots me one of those cool little badges that says I'm famous like that.

Cool, eh?

A card now - of course.

I made this card for Danielle's Twofer Tuesday challenge. The concept was you had to use 2 of everything on your card. The way I see it, I nailed it: 2 pieces of colored cardstock, 2 pieces of DP, 2 pieces of white cardstock (the one where the sentiment is and the one for the leaves), 2 ribbons, 2 cut-outs, 2 sentiments, 2 inks, 2 flowers, 2 buttons and 2 sewn areas! How about that?! If you see something that I didn't twofer, just keep it to yourself, wouldya'?

And one last thing - I ain't gonna get all religious or emotional on ya' or anything, but if you happen to be the praying type, would you mind saying a quick one for my husband? He has some growths on his back that the Doctor biopsied yesterday - one was a 2-inch chunk they dug out and he had to get stitches for - guess they looked suspicious...like skin cancer, and his aunt actually died from Melanoma about 5 years ago. So...if you've got the time or the inclination, I'd appreciate it. Just a little worried until we hear from the Doc, you know....

Thanks for stopping in and sharing a few with me.

Have a wonderful day, Girls!

Nuthin' much.

Quick post this morning - not a whole lot to say...work is work....armpits are oozing and burning....made a card....next!

I made this card for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. FINALLY a sketch I can work with! I really like this card; got the whole friends thing on my mind a lot lately and I can't wait to send this off to my friend - the one I take dinner to on Saturday nights - because I'm sure she would love some happy mail.

Thanks for stopping by - I see some new faces....unknowns...and new friends; appreciate all the company and comments. Have a great day, Girls!

Embracing Monday.

With one minor exception, I seriously had the bestest weekend ever! Of course it could have been because the last couple of weeks have been so poopy for me that it didn't take much to make a great weekend - ha. So do you want to know what the "one minor exception" was? I know you do. Now this could be *TMI* - but if you've been reading my blog for longer than the last minute, you know that I don't have a filter and I'm just me...so I'm finna tell you {finna is Oakland for "fixin' to" by the way ;)} OK - so Nair. We're all girls here, so we all know what Nair is, right? You may not use Nair, but you know what it is. Nair takes off hair; leg hair, bikini line hair, whatever....you gots a hairy face, they got Nair for that too! Alright, I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret here - winter time and hair on the legs. Yeah - I let it go. I mean it's not like I look like Cromagnon man or anything. And it's not like my big butt is out there in shorts in the middle of the winter anyway, so who cares?! Alright so Saturday I'm getting out the car from Target and I see some leg hair...it's light...but it's like blowing in the wind - ha ha ha. And I'm like - OK, time to Nair. So yesterday morning before church I Naired - my legs and my armpits. Just shut up, OK?! In college, my friend Jennifer used to pluck her armpits; I would beat mine up with a razor until I met Nair. Alright so I gots Nair on - legs and armpits. And no sooner am I done putting the Nair on and my armpits are *en fuego* {that means ON FIRE!!!} So I get a wet washcloth and wipe it all off. The thing says what, 3 minutes or something - it was not even half that! I was BURNING. My armpits are STILL burning. And they are oozing. And I have chunks of skin sticking to my shirt. NASTAY. And - it stinks. Oh and when I was wiping the Nair off, I must have wiped some on to the part of my chest between breast and pit because that's got some burnt roadrash looking thing on it now too. Sweet Jesus - I am disgusting. But hey - I have the smoothest, biggest legs you'll never want to see ;)

I made this card for Amber's Viva la Verve challenge this week. And "can I just tell you" what a PITA this challenge was? The sketch was OK, but the twist was NO DP. NO DP!?! Are you kidding me? I live for DP. I dream in color and you want me to go without DP on a card? Well I did it - but as Jennifer in Canada would say "I'm not vibin'" this card at all. I'll give it to K - she'll like the rainbowiness of it.

I'm determined to never send a Hallmark or Current or whatever other brand card again. That is after I have used up all the ones I have now. So I need to make sure I truly have a card for every occasion. I've got birthdays, sympathy and bunches of miscellaneous, but with the impending birth of Miss Molly's little one, I was reminded that I need bebe cards in my stash. So I made a few last night.

Alright girls - me and my busted and disgusted armpits are outta here.

You have yourself a great Monday!

Lovin' the weekend.

My Saturday was busy from start to finish, but I'll tell you what - I got things done and I enjoyed myself; life is good. Woke up bright and early to head down to JC Penney and got half off the lowest marked clearance price - got the kids school clothes for the fall for only $140 - gotta love that! Went to Target after - for no good reason - they were clearancing all their cardmaking/scrapbooking stuff; got some more glitter DP and some great white sparkly paper flowers that I've never used before. Then it was on to Valentines - ugh.... "And can I just tell you" how sick of pink and red and hearts I am now? {that was my Sandra Lee impression in case you missed it - heh} Put together D's for his 1st grade class - remember I made the cards forever ago, but we finally got the class list and put them together. Then I did the Valentines for K's church class tomorrow and D's on Tuesday. I still have to do K's preschool ones. Oh - and D's class list had the kids, the teacher and like 6 other people?! The librarian...the music teacher...the PE teacher....the principal..and 2 other helper people....and then he wrote on there Miss Sue - the lady in the office. Fortunately I had lots of red boxes of chocolates bought at Target's after Christmas clearance sale - heh. Took dinner to my invalid friend again....then watched THE RACE. That's right - NASCAR, baby!! Last night was the Bud Shootout and I'll tell you what - seeing Casey in his new firesuit and his new car - the 07 Jack Daniel's car - was THE BEST!! And then seeing him get caught up in a couple of wrecks...was just like old times....>sigh<

Whew! - what a day, I told you!!

This is what D is giving out for his class Valentines. I stamped glassine bags from Papertrey Ink, had D fill in the To/From, filled the bag with the little PTI card I made - and he signed his name in each one - put a Fun Dip and a Laffy Taffy behind the card and then tied some American Craft ribbon on the top. Man I used to love Fun Dip - didn't you??

I made a couple of cards yesterday too - one that I can not show you just yet. But this was for Nichole's Papertrey challenge. They're having a bunch of contests right now for their 2-year anniversary...and the sneak peeks and announcements of things to come have been INCREDIBLE. I cannot wait 'til the 15th to place my order!! Just last night they announced coordinating BUTTONS to go with their ribbons. I LOVE BUTTONS and thought I had the best....but custom coordinated to my PTI stuff? I've died and gone to Foofala button Heaven.

Last night my mother e-mailed to tell me that an old friend from high school died. Motorcycle crash - sad. Big Italian, Catholic family - very popular in our county - his older brother was probably the longest crush I ever had growing up; he was the high school quarterback after all. I haven't seen or thought about that family in ages.

Just another reminder about how fragile and incredibly unpredictable life can be. The decisions we make today, the words that we use, the way we treat people - would we regret anything if suddenly someone was gone from this earth...; food for thought.

Have a wonderful Sunday, Girls.