Sunday, October 21, 2007

Just a few little somethings......

Here a just a 'few little somethings' I played around with on and off today..

First is this card...
I actually waterbrushed it the other day. I didn't REALLY want to use the scalloped punch for the picture part itself but I did...
I was having a hard time getting the color right so it's a little dark but the flash kept lightening up the background paper too much and it looked way wrong.


I used: Stamp set: D1110 Give Thanks (CTMH)
Assorted CTMH stamp pads
Paper: Nature's Treasure's Paper Pack (CTMH)
Ribbon: Orange-JoAnns, multi-elements




I also worked on these......
These are the little tags I had in mind......There's the little 7 gypsies stamp.....
I made these up REAL quick like so they're not really anything special.
Looks like I'll NEED to get that smaller scallop punch.
REALLY what I THINK I'm going to do is just invest in those nestabilities.
Regardless, don't you think these could make cute little Christmas tags?? AND SUPER EASY!!
I'll be thinking of a way to spruce them up more....BUT I'm SO open to suggestions so if you have any.......PLEASE DO share!!
This is just a closer up view............
--can't you just PICTURE it on a package or a jar filled with goodies??
Alright, that's all for today....
I'm off to lounge on the couch with the kids for a bit.
Good Night and have a WONDERFUL week!!

I've been tagged!!

by Erin at http://www.inkysmiles.blogspot.com/ *ahem* Thanks Erin!!!
So this is the deal........
Erin tagged me...... she was tagged by:
Nina Perrin for this experiment which was originally started by Mary Demuth (http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/). "It's an experiment to see how many degrees we can separate (kind of like Kevin Bacon, only it's relevantblog).
How many people can one blog potentially reach?"What we do is list out 10, 20 and 30 years ago and what we were doing at that time. Then you "tag" some other bloggers and go back and comment on Relevant Blog and let her know.
SOOOO::

Ten years ago.....That would be 1997:
In 1997 we were living in San Diego, California. We were living in a rental house on Marline Ave. It was a NICE house-not too big but bigger than the one we'd moved from. It was new-there had only been one other renter before us and she'd only been in a year or two. We were kind of hidden from the street and there was only one other house back there and they had a few kids too so it was great for Nikki (and Jenny-a little girl I used to watch). They could go out and ride bikes or play or whatever--it was like a big 'ole 'cul de sac-and I didn't have to worry about cars or anything. Nikki turned 4 in April and we had a Cinderella Birthday party for her. She had the coolest cake-If I hadn't just gotten rid of my scanner I would have scanned it in to share--Let me think......this same year D'tri must have been pregnant with Billy too because I remember having her Baby Shower at this house. I really don't remember much more about this year. I'm sure if I sat and looked through pictures I would but not just sitting here.....how lame huh??
Twenty Years ago.......1987:
Hmmm, the highlight of '87--I GRADUATED High School. I graduated from Hamden High School in Hamden, Connecticut. After HS I joined the Navy. Yep! It's true. Way back then I had such a hard time saying 'NO!'. I'd taken the ASVAB in school-to get out of class-. They say I scored quite well and the Army came knocking wanting me. One of my cousin's -who I'm pretty sure I haven't seen or talked to since- got wind and convinced me to go talk to his Navy Recuriter -again of course, couldn't say 'no'. So, I went....by the time I left his office that day I'd signed my papers and was officially enlisted in the US Navy. Off to boot camp in Orlando, Florida I went in Sept of '87. It was tough but I have some good memories from back then. After Boot Camp I was off to Corps School (I was a Hospital Corpsman) in Great Lakes, Ill. I was in Great Lakes until April of 1988 when I headed off to Adak, Alaska. Know where that is?? I didn't either. It's a little, itty bitty island just about at the end of the Aleutian Chain-closer to Russia than main land Alaska. Good times there......
Thirty Years ago......1977:
Ha! I was 8 years old and I have NO idea. I'm not so good at remembering WAY back that far. I lived in Hamden, Connecticut and went to West Woods School in the 2nd Grade. I lived in the same house my parents built when I was born and the very same house they STILL live in. My Grandparents lived right up our driveway and we lived on a 'mini farm'. We had horses, cows, goats, the occassional sheep, ducks, chickens, turkey's-some other foul my dad raised for a bit-, and of COURSE dogs and barn cats. I'm pretty sure we had a family reunion that year. My Grandmother had Family Reunions pretty often for a while. They were always a good time. Okay, so I cheated...and I called my mom to ask her....she can't remember either.....in her defense, there were SO many of us.....my mom, or rather, OUR family, took foster children. Growing up we almost always had 5 state kids in addition to me and my brother so I can't really blame her for not knowing what exactly I did in '77. But she seems to think it was this year that we went camping for the first year at Rand Pond Campground in Goshen, New Hampshire in a little pop up tent camper. Mom says that Terry, one of my sisters fell out of said camper trailer this same trip-how? I don't know but knowing her, ANYTHING is possible. There was a big thunder storm one night, and I think the last night of this trip and the tent camper leaked on Mom and Dads side....all over my mom-she woke up in a BIG puddle. Mom always gave us each a couple of dollars at the end of the trip much money at the end of the trip to go to the little camp store to buy some candy for the trip home. I talked Terry into believing that I could put red hots up my nose and they'd come out through my mouth. -The things we do when we're kids- Once she finally bought it she actually tried it!! Up they went...when they started melting and her nose started running red and things were burning she told my mom....er-or, CRIED to my mom. My mom told her to blow her nose. She was like 5 years old at the time so of course she SNIFFED in as hard as she could. She just had to wait it out then. Of course she told my mom that I told her to do it but she had such a problem with lieing that of course my mom didn't believe her. Really, I DIDN'T TELL her to do it. I just, kind of, convinced her that I could make them come out my mouth. She never put anything else up her nose. It wasn't until a few years ago that I 'fessed up and actually told my mom it WAS me who talked her into it.
SO--now it's MY TURN to TAG-here goes:
Katrina @ http://www.katncoffee.blogspot.co/
Kristina Lewis/Balance @ http://www.kristinaalewis.blogspot.com/
Pamela O'Connor @ http://www.cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com/
Kim Burmeister @ http://www.clearlyinspired.blogspot.com/
Beate/Fresh & Fun @ http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Jill/InkGenious @ http://inkgenious.blogspot.com/
Korin/InkyDoodle @ http://inkydoodle.blogspot.com/
These are my tagee's. I don't know if they will all have the time to participate and really, I don't KNOW some of them......only through their blogs BUT..............if nothing else these are FANTABULOUS blogs to visit. They are VERY talented woman with BEAUTIFUL artwork and inspiration galore!! I HOPE they do get a chance to participate though because I'd love to learn more about them! :)
That's all for now.....it's only taken me the past 3 hours to complete this!!!
OK, OK....so I WAS on the phone with my mom in between. I just can't believe it's 3:12 pm ALREADY!!!
Until next time.....
Ciao~

What a week!

Well, I made it through last week.....PHEW! ;)
Actually it wasn't so bad....my weeks are just SUPER BUSY these days. It will SURE be NICE to be DONE with school-- November 28th-(God willing).
I'm not sure yet how I did on my test....The results were supposed to be in Thursday or Friday but of course I wasn't in Wenatchee to check my box so I'll find out tomorrow. I figure they're not going to be ANY different tomorrow then they were on Thursday or Friday, right? So, I can wait!
Today is my only day 'off' this week so I'm sure going to TRY to get a little 'creating' in there.....we'll see. I'm trying to get this desk area cleaned off so I can actually GET some 'creating' done. YIKES!! It's like 3 weeks of MESS! I'd take a picture but I'd be TOO embarrased to post it!
Katrina and I went to a Complications of Pregnancy class in Spokane this past week. It was good. I enjoyed spending time with her. We don't get to see each other very often these days. Our schedules just don't always mesh--oh, WAIT! They never do!! We joke around sometimes saying that's probably why we've remained friends for so long...heehee. Anyways, it WAS nice getting away....we did a little shopping which is ALWAYS fun. We were both pretty tired so we didn't do AS MUCH damage as I'm SURE we COULD have........so that's probably good too!! I broke down and got a pair of crocs--yep--the Mary Jane type like Kat....they are comfy but they don't feel like they have much of an arch support....well, I GUESS how much arch support could a squishy plastic shoe actually have??? I'm gonna give 'em a fair shake though. I'd bought another pair a few weeks ago....they're a newer style that I personally like a little better especially for the Fall/Winter weather--they cover more of the foot and come up higher in the back--Nikki LOVES them both...Does is surprise me?? uh--NOPE! She and I are SO opposite in SO many things it's crazy. It's all good. As quickly as she seems to be growing sometimes she'll grow right into them in NO time and then I won't feel so guilty about buying them! I bought another pair of Keen's too. Lace ups. I was on the fence and just as I was checking out, WHO calls? but my mom. Of COURSE in NO time she had me CONVINCED--so bought them-I DID! They ARE one of THE MOST comfortable shoes that is FOR SURE and I KNOW I won't be disappointed.
We hit Michaels-we don't have one over here....we have a Craft Warehouse in Wenatchee but that Michaels in the Valley seems to have more of a selection--maybe just DIFFERENT stuff. We also hit Blackberry's-another scrapbooking store. I picked up the COOLEST stamp. It's by 7Gypsies. It's one of those push down type stamps....and you can interchange the colored stamp pads. The one I got is Christmas seals-I bought another set to go with it...Round seal stamps--I thought the Christmas ones especially, would be cute to stamp out onto a round piece of cardstock and then layer behind it with one of those scallop punches...I thought it would be cute for Christmas gift tags and such......I also bought a package of the refillable stamp pads...I just thought it would be nice to have some other colors to chose from beside the basic black and since they were there........
Check 'em out--
Alright, well, I'm going to play for a bit....
Maybe I'll even post a little something later on......
Enjoy your Sunday!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Dare to be FABULOUS

Yes! Yes! It's TRUE. I'm SUPPOSED to be studying right now--so WHY did I make a card??
Well, Yes, I should be studying but I pretty much had all these pieces ready- I just had to put them together. I'd been looking for some pale yellow ribbon....yesterday I picked some up so I thought I'd just take a few minutes and put it together......

Here it is:

I SO got the idea for this card from Jenn Balcer's blog (http://jbalcer.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/) a WHILE ago. She does BEAUTIFUL work and I get SO much inspiration there.

This is ONE of my FAVORITE stamp sets. I just LOVE that flower and I LOVE IT MORE with stickles on it!!

Alright, I'm off to study now....

I'm thinking it would be 'fair' to take a little break somewhere in there though to rest my thinking mind and just 'play' for a half hour or so.....don't you think so??

Oh, BTW-my 7 year old stayed home from school today.....it only makes sense seeing as how I THOUGHT I'd be home ALONE today. In all fairness though, he's been going hunting with his dad the past few days and I think he pulled a muscle in his groin from all that hiking. You should see the poor guy TRY to walk. :( So, say a prayer or two for him if you think about it. Thanks!

PAPERS: My Mind's Eye and CTMH (I forget what color I used though--sorry) INK: Groovy Guava (SU!), STAMPS: Fabulous Flowers (SU!), Misc: Stickles-Crystal and ribbon from JoAnns and Craft Warehouse.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Criss Cross Card


So, I DID do another card...

I guess I NEED to go get that laundry going and some studying done now huh??










You can find the tutorial at: http://splitcoaststampers.com/resources/crisscrosscard.php


The tutorial is done by Beate Johns -my new upline by the way-she is AWESOME and does GORGEOUS work!!


I used the Outlaw Designer series paper (SU!), Baroque Motifs (SU!) and True Friend (SU!), Simple Stitches (CTMH), CTMH inks-Cocoa and CTMH papers-Cocoa, Colonial White and Autumn Terracota and Autumn Terracota My Accents (CTMH). Ribbon misc.


I'm not SO crazy about the white band so I may just remove it and leave just the ribbon.......we'll see.

News

Well, I guess this isn't REALLY 'news' because a lot of people already know this but.......
I have officially 'resigned' from CTMH---
and........

joined the Stampin' Up Family!

I received my Start Up box a week or two ago and THIS is what I got!!!!
Oh my goodness! HOW much FUN is this!?
Only problem??
I have had NO time to play with it all! :(
I've been SO busy between class, preceptor days, work, kid stuff, family stuff etc, etc.....
Well, this morning I woke up a little on the early
side--probably from working for the past few days and having to get up so early--anyways, I made up this card>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It's pretty simple and truly, I got the idea from the SU! catalog. It's alright....nothing special really but...........there it is!
This is one of my FAVORITE stamp sets and I LOVE it with glitter on it....well, really it's stickles (I just LOVE stickles!!-Thanks AGAIN to Aura for introducing me to them!)
Well, I'd LIKE to get another card made up. It just feels SO GOOD to 'play'. Joe came home and left again with Samuel this time, to go back out hunting so they'll be gone until 7:00 or so and Nikki is going to go to the movies at 3:30 or so with some friends so that leaves ME with some 'FREE' time on my hands!! Only thing is I have to 'ration' that time because I NEED to get some reading/studying in too!!
Until next time.......

Friday, October 5, 2007

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to my Secret Sister


I received another package from my Secret Sister today. THANK YOU! This is what I got!!

I've been wanting the 'new' white stamp pad for a LONG time....and not ONLY did she send me the new white pad but ALSO the re-inker AND this package of 8X8 patterned paper and tags to match!! FUN FUN!!! Don't let me forget the card. TOO cute!!

Now to clean up my scrap room, find some time and get creating!!

Thanks again Secret Sis!!!!