Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tuesday's Thanksgiving prep update

As of 5 pm today all Thanksgiving food, with the exception of the turkey, has been cooked/prepped for Thursday. In fact, if Thanksgiving were to be suddenly moved to Wednesday, I would be ready! This is in spite of the fact that Monday's HVAC visit resulted in an overloaded circuit of some sort and we were without power in part of the house until another HVAC guy came out this afternoon.
 
Thanksgiving to do list :
  • clean/condition the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms (this stuff is amazing. My cabinets look so much better and the house smells nice and citrusy)
  • Pull recipes for my go-to Thanksgiving recipes (chocolate chunk pecan pie and my apple pecan dressing)
  • make shopping lists for Sprouts and Wal Mart
  • determine menu with family (we do potluck style meals)
  • go shopping at Sprouts and Wal Mart
  • deep clean kitchen and bathrooms
  • vacuum
  • clean windows
  • clean bottom of oven so it doesn't smoke during the Alton Brown turkey roasting method
  • clear out/organize fridge to make room for ridiculous quantities of food
  • tidy up front yard vegetation (aka: make it look like we don't live in a jungle)
  • clean carpets (thanks to a Bissell carpet cleaner borrowed from some friends)
  • make brine for turkey
  • chop veggies for dressing
  • make cornbread for dressing
  • toast and cube bread for dressing
  • chop pecans and apples for dressing (okay, so the dressing is a little labor intensive, Keith and I think it's amazing and totally worth it)
  • meet with A/C repairmen for the 84th time since July
  • change out front door handle and locks (Keith)
  • change out guest bath toilet seat (Keith)
  • hang hand towel ring in guest bath (Keith)
  • change out smoke detector in the hallway (Keith)--no, not in preparation for my cooking; it's just a task we've procrastinated on
  • rehang hallway light that is trying to fall down 
  • meet the HVAC guy again
  • mow, if the yard dries out in time (Keith)
  • dust
  • sweep front porch
  • clean porch light
  • make pie crusts
  • bake pies

do Wednesday
  • sautee veggies for dressing 
  • mix dressing
  • prep and brine turkey
  • enjoy the day
  • do all of the other things I inevitably procrastinated on earlier in the week
  • go to bed at a reasonable hour on Thanksgiving Eve for quite possibly the first time in our marriage

do Thanksgiving day
  • roast Turkey
  • bake dressing
  • eat
  • play games
  • eat 
  • play games
  • eat
  • go to bed late, but happy

Monday, November 23, 2009

making good progress!

I feel like we're making great progress, even if we're not right on schedule. Of course, Keith  decided to add a few things to the list.
 
Thanksgiving to do list :
  • clean/condition the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms (this stuff is amazing. My cabinets look so much better and the house smells nice and citrusy)
  • Pull recipes for my go-to Thanksgiving recipes (chocolate chunk pecan pie and my apple pecan dressing)
  • make shopping lists for Sprouts and Wal Mart
  • determine menu with family (we do potluck style meals)
  • go shopping at Sprouts and Wal Mart
  • deep clean kitchen and bathrooms
  • vacuum
  • clean windows
  • clean bottom of oven so it doesn't smoke during the Alton Brown turkey roasting method
  • clear out/organize fridge to make room for ridiculous quantities of food
  • tidy up front yard vegetation (aka: make it look like we don't live in a jungle)
  • clean carpets (thanks to a Bissell carpet cleaner borrowed from some friends)
  • make brine for turkey
  • chop veggies for dressing
  • make cornbread for dressing
  • toast and cube bread for dressing
  • chop pecans and apples for dressing (okay, so the dressing is a little labor intensive, Keith and I think it's amazing and totally worth it)
  • meet with A/C repairmen for the 84th time since July
  • change out front door handle and locks (Keith)
  • change out guest bath toilet seat (Keith)
  • hang hand towel ring in guest bath (Keith)
  • change out smoke detector in the hallway (Keith)--no, not in preparation for my cooking; it's just a task we've procrastinated on
  • mow, if the yard dries out in time (Keith)

do Tuesday
  • dust
  • sweep front porch
  • clean porch light
  • make pie crusts
  • bake pies

do Wednesday
  • sautee veggies for dressing 
  • mix dressing
  • prep and brine turkey
  • enjoy the day
  • do all of the other things I inevitably procrastinated on earlier in the week
  • go to bed at a reasonable hour on Thanksgiving Eve for quite possibly the first time in our marriage

do Thanksgiving day
  • roast Turkey
  • bake dressing
  • eat
  • play games
  • eat 
  • play games
  • eat
  • go to bed late, but happy

Monday, November 16, 2009

Countdown to Thanksgiving

This year I'm determined to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas rather than participate in a procrastination-triggered frenzy the night before. Therefore, I actually began my Thanksgiving cleaning and meal plannig on Saturday. Yes, a full week and 5 days early. Don't get too impressed, though--we'll have to see how good my holiday preparation stamina really is. As an even bigger challenge, I want to have the house clean and all prep done before Tuesday evening. It's crazy, but my sister-in-law is visiting from Colorado and I want to make sure we get to spend as much time with her as possible during the few days she's here. To keep myself somewhat accountable, I'm going to create a to do list and post it here.

already done (listed here because it's more stuff I get to cross off):
  • cleaned/conditioned the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms (this stuff is amazing. My cabinets look so much better and the house smells nice and citrusy)
  • Pulled recipes for my go-to Thanksgiving recipes (chocolate chunk pecan pie and my apple pecan dressing)
  • made shopping lists for Sprouts and Wal Mart

do this week:
  • determine menu with family (we do potluck style meals)
  • go shopping at Sprouts and Wal Mart
  • deep clean kitchen and bathrooms
  • vacuum
  • clean windows
  • clean bottom of oven so it doesn't smoke during the Alton Brown turkey roasting method
  • clear out/organize fridge to make room for ridiculous quantities of food
  • tidy up front yard vegetation (aka: make it look like we don't live in a jungle)

do Monday
  • make brine for turkey
  • chop veggies for dressing
  • make cornbread for dressing
  • toast and cube bread for dressing
  • chop pecans and apples for dressing (okay, so the dressing is a little labor intensive, Keith and I think it's amazing and totally worth it)


do Tuesday
  • dust
  • sweep front porch
  • make pie crusts
  • bake pies

do Wednesday
  • sautee veggies for dressing 
  • mix dressing
  • prep and brine turkey
  • enjoy the day
  • do all of the other things I inevitably procrastinated on earlier in the week
  • go to bed at a reasonable hour on Thanksgiving Eve for quite possibly the first time in our marriage

do Thanksgiving day
  • roast Turkey
  • bake dressing
  • eat
  • play games
  • eat 
  • play games
  • eat
  • go to bed late, but happy
If this actually works, I'm creating a 4 week plan for Christmas. After that, I'm going to take over the world.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

layout leftovers

Following my own advice, I made a card from my "Making Cookies With Mom" layout leftovers. I had pulled the flowers out while working on the layout, but didn't end up using them.

As I learn more about interior design and fashion, I begin to see its influence on my scrapbooking and cardmaking. I love how Candice Olson on Divine Design creates sophisticated spaces by using texture and pattern in various shades of the room's colors. I've also noticed that I'm drawn to rooms, outfits, and layouts that add a contrasting, possibly unexpected, "pop" of color. (The pop is in quotes because it's become such an HGTV/TLC buzzword that Keith has started joking about it.) Black and white dress with kelly green shoes? Done! (Stacy London would be proud.) Chocolate, taupe and cream living room with steel blue accents? Thinking about it. So when it was time to add centers to the flowers on this card, I quickly decided on fun aqua pearls rather than matching pink or brown centers. The card is more interesting that way, don't you think?


Bazzill cardstock; Scenic Route patterned paper; Prima paper flowers; Basic Grey adhesive pearls; vintage seam binding tape; Fontwerks alpha stamps; Versamark ink; Stampendous! embossing powder; Fiskars corner rounder

Thursday, October 22, 2009

making cookies with Mom

I remember how I coveted these letter stamps for some time before I finally asked to get them for Christmas a few years ago. Since they came as unmounted rubber stamps on a single sheet I also asked for the EZ Mount starter kit. When the stamps came I mounted them on stamping foam and very carefully cut around each letter with my new special Kai scissors. It was a lot of work, but I finally had my Steelfish Outline letter stamps! A couple of months later I was in a scrapbook store and came across a set of clear Steelfish Outline letter stamps, meaning they didn't have to be mounted on foam, they didn't have to be cut out, and they would be easier to line up. Well, crap.

I couldn't find letter stickers in the right color/size for this layout, so letter stamps with Versamark ink and clear embossing powder were the perfect solution. I didn't have any letter stamps small enough for the "making" and "with," so I wrote out the words with my Quickie Glue Pen (after 4 attempts each of writing them in pencil, of course) and embossed with clear embossing powder. Worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself!


Bazzill Basics cardstock; Scenic Route patterned paper (stripe and dot); Autumn Leaves patterned paper (pink); Making Memories tag stickers; Paper Studio brad ("C"); Recollections tiny brad; Fontwerks alpha stamps; Versamark ink; Sakura Quickie Glue pen; Stampendous! embossing powder; Fiskars apron lace border punch

Monday, October 19, 2009

I have a problem

I think I have OCCCD. Never heard of it? It's Obsessive Candy Corn Consumption Disorder. Sure signs you have OCCCD:

  • You go through the motions of hiding the candy corn in the back of the pantry...and then go get some 45 seconds later.
  • When you come across an opened bag of candy corn in a cabinet at work in August (and realize it's 10 months old), you still eat some.
  • For portion control, you pour about 4-5 pieces of candy corn out into your hand and then put the bag back up before you eat them. You then repeat this process 6 times in immediate succession.
  • You consider packing a little container of candy corn to take with you to work. 9 hours is too long to go without it.
  • You sneak into the kitchen to eat candy corn when your husband isn't looking. It keeps him from judging you...and eating the candy corn.
  • You plan to make a special trip to Wal Mart (where you hate shopping) because their Sunday flyer shows that they have a sale on candy corn.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

going simple with die cut paper

Did you notice that the last layout had nothing but cardstock, photos, die cut paper, letter stickers and journaling?  I find I often reach for my die cut paper when I'm wanting to create a quick and simple layout. Here's another one using the same formula.

Hasn't Keith gotten quite good at the dual self-portrait? Pretty handy when no one's around and you're too lazy (or cold) to bust out the tripod. It's important for me to have lots of photos of us together.


Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories die cut paper; American Crafts velvet letter stickers; Fiskars corner rounder

Friday, October 16, 2009

making the most of bad photos

Sometimes I take photos at an event and when I get home there's not a single shot that I would be proud to show someone. It happens. Therefore, I deal with it (but I don't have to like it!)

When the Dallas Mavericks had their training camp at UNT, staff and students were able to attend and bring a guest. Keith and I took lots of photos, but a combination of a dim coliseum, fast action, and people who kept sticking their stupid camera phones in the way (but I'm not bitter) resulted in a stack of disappointing photos. The overall experience was neat, though, so I decided to make a layout with a collage of photos. I feel like this focuses on the photos as a whole and not on any one particular (stinky) photo. And as much as the photos are busy and cluttered, the clean and streamlined layout design makes me totally happy with the final result. That, my friends, is considered a victory.















Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories die cut paper; American Crafts foam letter stickers; Delicious font

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

No Waste Wednesday: reusing the rejects

If you're like me, then sometimes when you're working on a project you have an element cut out and ready to go, but then it just doesn't work. Wrong color. Wrong size. Sometimes you don't even know why, but you know you're not happy with it. Instead of recycling the rejected piece, challenge yourself to put it to good use on a card!

The blue frame on this card was originally created for a journaling block on a layout. I ended up doing something else on the layout, but instead of tossing the frame, I used it as the perfect starting point for a card. All the other supplies are also ones I had sitting out after finishing my layout, so the card came together very quickly.


Bazzill Basics cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper (brown) and felt flower; Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves patterned paper (pink); Prima paper flower; Making Memories brad; Glue Dots International vellum adhesive; vellum; MigraineSerif font

Interested in seeing the layout the blue frame was originally supposed to go on?















I had planned for the cardstock frame to go around the journaling (see how it was going to complete the visual triangle with the blue title and blue felt flower?). However, once I actually cut it out and laid it on the layout, I felt that it was too visually weighty and threw off the design of the layout. I still wanted to repeat some blue there for design purposes, and I already had my journaling printed on vellum, so I used a blue Prismacolor pencil and drew a border around the journaling. Perfect!

I'm gonna be in CK!

I'm super excited because I received an email from Creating Keepsakes Magazine letting me know that they want to publish one of my layouts in their February 2010 issue. It's been a little while since I've had something picked up for publication, so I the encouragement comes at a great time. Now I NEED to scrapbook more so that I have more work to submit!

Monday, October 12, 2009

loopy

A quick simple card. By now you would think I'd be used to the fact that I'll over analyze even simple things. It's who I am, so I'm just going to embrace it!


Bazzill Basics cardstock; K&Co. patterned paper; Recollections tiny brads; Papertrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages stamp; Ranger stamping ink; Martha Stewart loop border punch

Saturday, October 10, 2009

fairy godmother

I started this page during last week's Super Secret Crafting Club and finished it on Saturday, but I had to excavate my scanner before I could post it. In fact, I had to take a few days off of crafting just to get some important things done around here. You know...laundry, cleaning the house, cooking dinner. Things I forget about when I'm in a creative groove.

We call our Cinderella Project volunteers fairy godmothers, so when scrapbooking photos of my boss and I in CP dresses, it felt a little like I was scrapping a Disney page. I mean, Belle yellow and Sleeping Beauty pink just begged to be paired with Cinderella blue, don't you think? Add in some sparkle and it's even more fitting. The white strips on the page have glitter polka dots on them, and the scrolly patterned paper is a subtle metallic silver. The fairy "sprinkles" are pink and yellow gemstone brads and some clear smooth adhesive gemstones. I love the letter stickers and how they connect to form a seamless script word.



KI Memories patterned paper (blue dot); American Crafts patterned paper (silver and white scroll) and puffy letter stickers; K&Co. glitter paper; Making Memories rhinestone brads; Hero Arts smooth gemstones; Fontin font; vellum; Glue Dots vellum adhesive

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

custom background

First, I wanted to let everyone know that my CT scan came back normal, which is great. However, since I'm still feeling pressure and pain I'm going back to the doctor for another appointment this week. I have no idea what she has in mind, but we'll see!

To make the background design for this card I repeated a foam stamp on a diagonal across the card, flipping it 180 degrees in some places. I used Versamark ink and then embossed it with gold embossing powder. The sentiment is embossed in black on gold cardstock. I like the somewhat ethnic feel of the background pattern with the mix of gold and bright pink. The foam stamp is a cool image, but it reminded me of how much I love clear stamps and how easy they are to perfectly arrange!


Bazzill Basics cardstock; Making Memories foam stamp; Papertrey Ink stamp--Damask Designs; Stampendous! embossing powder; QuicKutz label die

Monday, October 5, 2009

Australian inspired card

Nichole's last challenge was based on Australian-style art and was to incorporate dotted outlines or masking into a project.


I created a card using masking. I cut circles out of a piece of thin paper and then used the negative image as a mask while I stamped a damask pattern on the card. Since this is a simple single-layer card, I added some interest by cutting out a large circle and then stamping the full damask image on the inside of the card. When the card is closed it looks like the image inside the large circle has been masked off, too.



Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamps--Damask Designs; Ranger stamping ink; vintage seam binding tape

Indian inspiration card

Challenge three was all about India. While technically the challenge was to use rhinestones, sequins and jewels, I was so inspired by the photo Nichole provided that I made a card that also echoed the mix of bright colors.

The inspiration:


My card:
 

Bazzill Basics cardstock; Hambly Screenprints transparency; The Beadery gemstones; Papertrey Ink stamps--Polka Dot Basics II, Mega Mixed Messages; QuicKutz dies and stamping foam; Stampendous! embossing powder

Here's a detail shot so you can see how shiny and glittery the gold tinsel embossing powder is.
 


I went a little out of control, and the layers of patterns and bright colors are definitely out of my comfort zone, but that was the fun of it! The pink design was stamped using 6 foam stamps created from a single QuicKutz die. I arranged them on my acrylic block (seemed like a very Indian pattern to me) and then stamped them in rows to create the pattern. I cut out some negative space with a craft knife and then adhered a patterned transparency behind it. I adhered gemstones to the blue cardstock in the center of each window. I like how the gemstones are slightly obscured by the bright green pattern.

Mexican inspiration card

For the second inspiration challenge we were to create something inspired by Mexico. While browsing Mexican art forms, I came across something called papel picado, or "perforated paper." Sounds quite papercrafty to me! They take stacks of tissue paper and cut shapes out using awls and chisels. These designs are then strung up side-by-side, banner style, during celebrations.



Being me, I started out by searching for a pattern that I could use for my card. I couldn't find anything that would work, so I played around and came up with a design that looks pretty cool! Can I just tell you how proud I am that I "freehanded" this one? I cut a rectangle of tissue paper and folded it in half, bringing the two short ends together. Then I folded it in half the other direction, so I had it folded in quarters. Keeping the center of the original rectangle as my point, I folded the piece on a diagonal to form a triangle, and then folded that triangle in half again. Once I had the piece folded I used my paper punches to cut pieces out of the folded edges. I also used my Cropadile to punch a few holes in the center of the piece. When I unfolded it, I was left with a radially symmetrical design. I accordian folded the piece longways and then used my corner rounder on the corners, creating a scalloped bottom to the piece.

I used Glue Dots vellum adhesive (my favorite vellum adhesive ever!) to adhere the tissue paper to a rectangle of cardstock; it gave a nice, even bond for all of the delicate sections without leaving any trace of adhesive. The sentiment tag was created by putting each end of a small strip of paper into my large corner punch. I like the softly rounded edge that resulted.



Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Versafine by Tsukineko stamping ink; EK Success punches; Martha Stewart loop border punch; Cropadile; Glue Dots vellum adhesive; jute; tissue paper

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Japanese inspiration card

Papertrey Ink issued some challenges for World Card Making Day. The first was to create a card inspired by Japan. In searching Japanese images, I came across several examples of Seigaiha patterns such as this one.



These patterns represent the ocean waves. I was drawn to the simple, graphic style and knew just the paper I would use for the concentric circles. 

Just don't ask Keith how long it took me to cut out and adhere all of the circles (with the aid of my t-square, of course)! Once I had the circles adhered the top looked too bare, so I brought out my trusty 120 Prismacolor box and found the perfect matching colors to draw a fine outline around the top.


Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamp-Mega Mixed Messages; Scrapworks patterned paper; Prismacolor colored pencils; Pioneer foam dot; Creative Memories circle cutter

Saturday, October 3, 2009

happy World Card Making Day!

Yes, today is World Card Making Day and I'm set to celebrate all day! To start it off, this is a card that I finished last night at the Super Secret Crafting Club last night. (It might also be the only thing I finished last night, but we won't talk about that.)



Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories patterned paper; Queen & Co. felt ribbon; Jillibean Soup journaling sprout; Papertrey Ink stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Colorbox stamping ink; ribbon

Friday, October 2, 2009

SC squared

I'm at another Super Secret Crafting Club meeting! With Saturday being World Card Making Day, I should have some fun stuff to share this weekend. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

brown sugar bear

Do you have a brown sugar bear? Please tell me that I'm not the only one who feels guilty every time I close him back up in the brown sugar. I feel even worse when I have to drown him (soak him in water).You would think that the manufacturer would make him with a smile, rather than his permanent look of shock and horror. I'm sorry, brown sugar bear!


Wednesday, September 30, 2009

No Waste Wednesday: fun with fibers

If you've been scrapbooking or cardmaking for a while, I bet you have some fibers hiding out somewhere, sadly shoved aside as you moved on to all the pretty ribbons that became available. I still use fibers here and there in my projects, but with the stash I've collected I decided I needed to get creative with how I used it. Enter the wrapped fiber border.

To make the fluffy red border on this card I cut a strip of thin chipboard and ran a piece of double sided tape down both sides. Starting at the bottom, I carefully wrapped the fiber around the chipboard strip. This particular fiber is an eyelash fringe, so the top of the fiber stuck to the chipboard while the fringy part flares out, making this fun and furry. I adhered the border with a strong liquid glue (Glossy Accents) to ensure that it didn't go anywhere.

I wanted to overlap my sentiment over the border, but it was so furry I didn't want to try to adhere them to each other. Instead, I took a strip of cardstock (from my scrap file!), bent it to make a little "bridge" and then trimmed the edges to look like a banner. A cute label with a sentiment finishes it off. The fiber makes such a big impact when layered like this, and I still have more of it left!


KI Memories patterned paper (orange); American Crafts patterned paper (dot); Rubba dub dub fiber; Papertrey Ink stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Versafine by Tsukineko stamping ink; QuicKutz label die; Ranger Glossy Accents liquid glue

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Papertrey Ink



 I got my very first order from Papertrey Ink, and the only thing that I'm disappointed in is the fact that I didn't order more! I make my cards out of my scrapbook supplies, but I often get stuck adding the sentiment. I've been looking for a good set of multi-purpose sentiment stamps, but none of the ones I had been finding fit my style. They were either too formal or not sophisticated enough. I've also been looking for place to buy good quality 8.5x11 cardstock for a long time, and things have been getting serious because I'm out of dark chocolate cardstock for my layout backgrounds. Everything just looks good with that color.

When I came to Papertrey's website (courtesy of Creating Keepsake's blog), I found exactly what I had been searching for. I'm pretty picky and have a good understanding of my style (and therefore, what I won't use), so I typically pick and choose what I want to purchase from most companies. I still had to pick and choose among Papertrey's offerings, but it was due to budgetary constraints! And now that I've "sampled" their products, my wishlist has gotten so much longer! Even better, I love what I've seen of how the company is run and how thoughtful, creative, and inspirational the designers are. It's something I feel great supporting.

Anyway, my friend Jessica and I split an order for maximum buying power! I got 4 colors of the Papertrey cardstock, half a package of kraft envelopes, and three stamp sets. I've been slightly obsessing over damask patterns on everything for a while, so I was super excited to find this Damask Designs set! It's going to take me a long time to get all of my damask ideas out of my head and onto paper. I haven't had a lot of time to play with them yet, but I have finished a few cards (and have many more ideas running around in my head). The first thing I did, though, was finish a few nearly-done cards. They needed sentiments, and since I knew my Papertrey order was on its way, I set them aside until my goodies arrived! Just as I thought, the stamps were the perfect finishing touches.

First, a card for Keith's grandma. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the floral paper is shimmery.


Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories patterned paper; Papertrey Ink stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Ranger stamping ink; Martha Stewart loop border punch; Michaels ribbon

This was inspired by Papertrey designs. I didn't have the supplies I needed yet, but that didn't stop me from making do with what I did have to create a cute card. The dots were stamped using Versamark ink and then embossed with two layers of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to give them a smooth, glossy surface. The dots are from an old foam stamp I have, but I'm enjoying my new acrylic polka dot stamps much more. The curvy label is from some new QuicKutz dies I just got. They were on sale and I knew they would be perfect for cards. I matted the white label on a shimmery silver one.

Bazzill Basics cardstock; Autumn Leaves patterned paper; Basic Grey adhesive pearls; Papertrey Ink stamp--Damask Designs; QuicKutz label dies; Heidi Swapp foam stamp; Versamark watermark ink; Ranger stamping ink; Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel; ribbon

I can't show the whole card yet (because I'm sharing it tomorrow), but here's the last card that I finished off with a Papertrey stamp. This is another QuicKutz label die; it fits most of the sentiments in Mega Mixed Messages perfectly, so I think you'll be seeing a lot more of it!


I have a half-completed card on the desk in front of me that I'm excited about, but I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to finish it. I'll share it later!

Monday, September 28, 2009

masculine cards

No update from the doctor yet; hopefully we'll hear tomorrow. Keith and I went on a nice little date tonight that involved a deep dish pizza and a ridiculously rich triple chocolate pizookie. Completely delicious. The company was even better. At one point, Keith was carefully scraping chocolate ice cream off of the Ghirardelli chocolate square and said, "I feel like a dinosaur hunter." I giggled, and then said, "Don't you mean archaeologist or paleontologist?" Which of course led to me snickering uncontrollably and Keith telling me to stop laughing at him. Typical us.

Now, on to some cards! Whenever I need to give a card to one of the men in my life, I often find that my selection of cards is seriously deficient in appropriate choices. Why? Because scrapbooking manufacturers make so many awesome ribbons, flowers and sparkly things. Which means that most of my cards are beribboned, beflowered, or besparkled (those are words, right?). However, if I exercise some restraint, I can create simple, strong, masculine cards. Most men don't want all the fancy details, anyway. Here are two super simple examples.


Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories patterned paper; Heidi Swapp chipboard letters; Making Memories rubon letters; Creative Memories corner rounder


Scrapworks patterned paper; Making Memories rubon letters

Have a great night! I'm going to bed while Keith stays up late to watch the stupid Cowboys who can't figure out that people need to go to sleep at a decent time on a work night!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

proof that doctors are sadists

We already know that doctors have to be a little sadistic, right? They inflict pain (even if it is for a good cause), and they put their patients through humiliating experiences. Hospital gowns, anyone? Here's my recent journey through the rather sadistic world of medicine.

I had a CT scan on Thursday to check out my abdominal and kidney area for the cause of some pains I've been experiencing for about a month. When the insurance precertification finally came through, I got scheduled for a scan that afternoon. They said I wasn't allowed to eat for 4 hours prior to the scan, because some people get nauseated from the contrast dye. The phone call came right before I ate lunch, which is good, except for the fact that it meant I had to go over 8 hours without eating, instead of just the 4. Then they told me I had to come pick up some barium (it's a contrast agent that helps organs show up in the scans) and drink it two hours before the scan. I stopped by the office and picked up not one, but two large bottles of barium " berry smoothie." I had to drink one at 2:00 and one at 3:00. When I opened the first one, it kind of smelled good. Now I know why they REALLY don't let you eat for 4 hours before the scan--they figure if they can get you hungry enough, you'll actually look forward to downing a giant bottle of metal suspension. They're right.



My lunch. Don't you like how they stragetically place the berry photos on the bottles to make it look like a delicious fruit smoothie?

Turns out, the relatively pleasant berry flavor gets overpowered by the taste of, well, metal. It wasn't terrible, but drinking it felt like drinking out of one of those little doll bottles, where you drinkdrinkdrink and it looks like it's emptying, but when you set the bottle back down it looks the same as when you started. Oddly enough, even after finishing off the bottomless smoothies, I wasn't full. You know what kind of food sounded good after finishing the second one? The edible kind.

After arriving at the imaging place, they asked me if I was allergic to iodine or shellfish, because they were going to give me a contrast dye via IV, and some people have an allergic reaction. I told them that I didn't know about iodine, and that I'm okay with crab but havn't tried lobster because both my mom and grandmother were very allergic to it. Their response? "That's okay; we have benadryl."

The technologist (not nurse, not technician. Technologist. That's what the sign said) brought me to a changing room and told me to change into a top and a set of bottoms. Awesome, I don't have to wear a gown! No, I got to wear this:

Not a great photo, and I forgot to look at the camera, but check out my new threads!

This photo is incapable of fully conveying the awesomeness of those shorts. These were the small/meduim size, and the only part of them touching my body was the waistband. The hip area protruded out in a balloon about 6 inches in every direction. I'm convinced the only purpose of these shorts is to give the doctors (and technicians) a little giggle throughout the day.

The fun wasn't over yet. For the CT scan they had me lie down on a long, skinny bed that passed back and forth through the middle of something that looked like it came from Stargate, complete with whirring and whooshing noises. The technician gave me some instructions, then left the room. A few minutes into the scan, a bossy automated voice told me to breathe in and hold my breath. I did, and then after about 15 seconds she said, "breathe." A little bit later she told me to hold my breath again, only she didn't say, "breathe," after 15 seconds. Or 30 seconds. Trickery! She conned me into thinking the second one would be as easy as the first! Finally, I got to breathe again and then it was time for the contrast dye. The technician said the dye would make me feel hot and flushed (no problem, I was a little chilly, anyway), would give me a metallic taste in my mouth (so what? I already drank two metal smoothies), and that it would make me feel like I needed to pee (great. now I get to hold my breath and my bladder). After I made it through the second round of scans, the technician told me to I needed to drink a gallon of water that evening and a gallon of water the next day to flush the dye out of my kidneys. Have you ever gotten sick to your stomach from drinking too much water? Never had I...until Thursday.

The whole experience actually wasn't bad at all. The most painful part was the post-IV tape on my arm. But, an "I had a CT scan and everything went fine" story wouldn't be nearly as entertaining, would it? Silly/embarrassing story aside, hopefully I'll know the results of the scans on Monday, and I'd appreciate your prayers. I'm not in a lot of pain, but the discomfort is pretty constant, and I'm praying for a diagnosis with an easy solution.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

hello friend

Do you recognize this paper? I made another card with scraps from the layouts I made on Friday. Actually, "scraps" seems like the wrong word, because I still have tons of paper left. I'll either save it for a future layout...or make more cards with it!

I made the fun green shape by tracing a pretty journaling page from Making Memories.I think it adds just the right touch to change the paper from looking sporty to looking sweet, don't you?


American Crafts patterned paper, felt flowers, and ribbon; Scrapworks rubon letters; Making Memories brad and journaling card (for template)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

No Waste Wednesday: mini card set

My frugal nature means that I keep all but the tiniest of paper scraps (neatly sorted in hanging files and in ROYGBIV order, of course). My organized nature means I don't like lots of extra "stuff" sitting around and not getting used. I've found that cards are the perfect way for me to put my scraps to good use.

This is the first No Waste Wednesday, where I show how I've used my scraps and excess supplies to make some pretty cute projects. Hope you find some inspiration!

All of these cards were created using cardstock and patterned paper from my scrap files. I actually cut a card base first based on a cardstock piece I found and then discovered that the Heidi Swapp foam stamp fit perfectly to make a background. Once I saw how cute it turned out I searched through my cardstock scraps for more 3.5 x 7" pieces in coordinating colors. The American Crafts felt flowers were so much fun to mix and match and I think they give just the right touch to the cards.


 
 
 
 



 Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories patterned paper; American Crafts felt flowers, rubon letters, and sentiments; Making Memories brads; Heidi Swapp foam stamp (dotted background); Versamark by Tsukineko stamping ink; Delta Stitchless Washable Fabric Glue (adhesive for felt)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

lace flower card

I think this card is a great example of how I get inspired just by looking at supplies that are laid out on my desk. I don't think I would have thought to pair these two papers if I hadn't seen them together. I like how the bold diagonal stripes give a funky look to the more traditional floral pattern. I didn't want to distract from the graphic nature of the card, so I just added glitter to the large flower on the right by coloring it in with my Sakura Quickie Glue pen and then using a clear sparkle embossing powder. It's very pretty in person! What you should not do is ask me how long I moved the die cut paper around over the top of the card base trying to figure out just the right portion of the design to use.

In case you're wondering, I called this a lace flower card because the manufacturer calls this die cut paper lace paper.


KI Memories patterned paper and die cut paper; Sakura Quickie Glue pen; Hero Arts embossing powder

Monday, September 21, 2009

cards with texture

I really enjoy using texture in my scrapbooks, but it's even more fun to use it on cards because there's not a piece of plastic in the way (okay, protecting it, but it still sometimes gets in the way!). By giving someone a card with texture, you're indulging their sense of touch as well as their sense of sight. These cards have flocking, which just begs to be touched!
Doodlebug Designs flocked paper; Autumn Leaves; Making Memories ribbon and rhinestone brad; Cricut die cut flowers

I'm pretty proud of this card, because not only is it cute, but it was also made using materials in different ways. The green stripe on this card is actually a piece of a green and clear striped cellophane treat bag I snagged at a party. I thought it looked great with the more ornate flocked green paper. I made the white scallop by using the edge of some circular patterned die cut paper. I only had it in blue and red, so I flipped it over and used the white side to go with the card's color scheme. The brad is embossed with silver and clear sparkle embossing powder.
Bazzill Basics cardstock (grey); Worldwin Papers cardstock (pink); Doodlebug Designs flocked paper; KI Memories die cut paper; Prima paper flower; Making Memories brad; Duro Decal Co., Inc. letter stickers; vellum; cellophane bag

I love this card. Love it. It's simple, but the textures and patterns make it special. The pink circle is a metal circle I pulled off of a breast cancer awareness keychain (and it matches the pink ribbon in real life). The rhinestone brad is covering up the hole where the ring went through.
Doodlebug Designs flocked paper; KI Memories patterned paper; Making Memories glitter letter stickers and rhinestone brad; Fiskars corner punch; metal keychain; ribbon

Sunday, September 20, 2009

SC Squared layouts

Here are the finished layouts that I started on Friday during Super Secret Crafting Club (see previous post).

Can I just say that UNT green shirts are just about the hardest thing to scrap ever? I understandably have a ton of photos of us in Mean Green, but all of the green scrapbook papers and accents I have are in a lovely bright green that has more yellow in it. I wonder if our marketing department would be receptive to me asking them to change the school color? I mean, I totally have a good reason.
Bazzill Basics cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper, foam letter stickers, and brads; Autumn Leaves journaling stamp; Creative Imaginations rubon ("Game Day"); Versafine by Tsukineko stamping ink

This isn't really what I had in my head, but those tickets threw a wrench in things. Having memorabilia on the page (instead of behind it, which I sometimes do) makes Keith happy, so I try to do it as often as possible.
Bazzill Basics cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper and felt letter stickers


I also created a card with some of the patterned paper scraps leftover from the Muse layout. The tiny green scallops are actually from my loop punch, but I only let the very tip of them peek out from behind the patterned paper. The small flower is adhered with one layer of dimensional adhesive, and the "Hi" circle is adhered with a double layer. I like how the varying heights make the card even more interesting.
Bazzill Basics cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper and felt flowers; Making Memories mini brad; Recollections tiny brad; KI Memories rubon word; Martha Stewart loop punch

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Super Secret Crafting Club

Yesterday was the maiden voyage (inaugural run? charter meeting?) of the Super Secret Crafting Club. This not-really-secret-at-all group is actually created through an open invitation to coworkers and their spouses. A coworker friend of mine likes having the accountability of regularly scheduled scrapbook sessions and also recently took up cardmaking. So that no one would be left out, the gatherings were expanded to include all manner of crafty things.

We met in our conference room at work, so I got started soon after 4:00 and the others came in as they got off work. We watched girly movies (since we have some guys who are promising to join us next time, maybe I'll bring some more gender neutral movies), ate cookies, crafted, and had a great time. It was fun to see the variety of people's creative outlets. Carole came and knitted for a while. Tiffany and Chandra made cards.
Laura, Tiffany and Chandra

Christina crocheted and colored (and brought some awesome cookies!), and Amanda sorted photographs that she's going to scan and turn into a coffee table book.
Amanda and Christina

Laura and Carlynn tried a new process that involves ironing plastic grocery bags to meld them together into a material that can be sewn into something awesome.
Laura

I scrapbooked.
me!

Not only did I scrapbook, but I finished a 2-page layout minus the journaling block (can't believe I forgot my journaling pen!) and got pretty close to finishing another layout. That's quite an accomplishment for me. I'm going to finish those up and post them tomorrow, hopefully.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

happy 27

Two months ago today my sister-in-law, Cherie, turned 27. I sent her this card that's just as fun and attention-getting as she is. It uses a printed transparency and a patterned paper with the same design in the same color. The inside of the card is green (Bazzill green tea, one of my favorite cardscock colors), and it shows through the transparency when you close the card. The pink strip serves to hide the glue seams, so the card looks just as finished on the inside as it does on the front. Happy 27.167 years, Cherie!

cardstock: Bazzill Basics; transparency: Hambly; patterned paper: Hambly (turquoise), KI Memories (pink); chipboard letters: Heidi Swapp

For the record, I actually sent this card two months ago. I just didn't post it. If I was two months late with a birthday card, you'd be seeing a lot more groveling here!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

hello

A (seemingly) simple card. I've learned that I have a superpower that involves making anything I do more complicated than it probably needs to be. Dang perfectionism.

cardstock: Bazzill Basics; letter stickers (traced) and glitter markers: American Crafts; font: fun font; craft foam

Friday, September 11, 2009

Hey, I scrapbooked!

Sometimes, the best way for me to get back in the groove of scrapping is to make cards. I got to spend Labor Day playing with my scrapbook supplies and now I feel inspired to go create!

one layout and 9 cards. I call that a pretty good day!

My desire and inspiration for scrapbooking goes in cycles, and is usually inversely related to the amount of time I spend at work. This July and August I worked the hardest (and most hours) I think I ever have. Subsequently, no scrapbooking. By the time I got home, I was practically brain dead and certainly didn't have any inclination to pull out my scrapping stuff. (To be honest, I was so tired I didn't even talk much in the evenings. I am so grateful that Keith not only understood, but put up with me making him late for work because I was chattering away in the mornings trying to tell him all the things I didn't have the energy to say the night before. I was a completely different person after my batteries had recharged!)

Labor Day weekend was great, and not just because of my return to scrapbooking. On Saturday we had our third quarterly (get that?) family game day. A full day of family (including some friends we've "adopted"), games, and lots of food. Sunday we met up with some friends at church and were able to worship side by side with them and then spent dinner and dessert connecting with them in a way that filled a little bit of my heart. They are such encouraging, inspiring people. Monday was dedicated to scrapping and football--the perfect bumming day! Basically, a fabulous weekend.