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Monday, January 31, 2011

Blast from the Past

Today was kinda wonky. The day started out with waking up from a random dream. One of the people that was in the dream was someone that I went to high school with that I had a major crush on. He hasn't crossed my mind in a long time, so I don't get it. What is UP with that?

Then, when I went to spin class tonight, I saw someone that I went to high school with taking a bike a few rows over. We didn't really have the same circle of friends, but we had a class or two together. I debated saying something, but didn't want to feel silly in case he didn't remember me.

Apparently, today was "Blast from the Past" day. I clearly didn't get the memo.

Have you ever had a "Blast from the Past" moment? If so, what did you do about it?

Sunday, January 30, 2011

CPS #203

I was on a definite roll this morning: took care of a load of laundry, shredded documents I no longer needed, and scrubbed down the bathroom. Woot for productivity! :)

While I was working on a valentine card today, the inked stamp accidentally fell off my work space and fell onto my UMD scrubs. (insert explicative) I ran to the bathroom and wiped a damp cloth over it a few times. Whew, it came off! Crisis averted. How funny would it not be if you had "Happy Valentine's Day" permanently stamped on your pajamas? :P

I started out with kraft cardstock and yellow American Crafts Letterbox collection paper for my CPS#203 card. I knew that I needed to fill that yellow panel with something, but couldn't decide what. I continued to dig through the paper collection and saw that one of the sheets was torn. Huh. I wonder how that happened. Oh well. I made it work by cutting out the flowers that were in that torn sheet and using them as embellishments. Give yourself permission to alter products and use them in a different way to stretch your dollar a little.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamp: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

I'm in the home stretch of "not buying new crafty things for a month" goal, but you know what? It's actually not that hard anymore to not give into the temptation to buy something. As long as I don't set foot into the craft store, I'm good. Online shopping is a different story though, BUT once I notice myself browsing a shop for a while, I quickly close the window. Out of sight, out of mind. I might have to break down after a month and restock on necessities like red cardstock. Valentine's Day is putting a dent in my supply.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Happy Lunar New Year + Fall-To Layout #125

Tonight, my family and I got together (if you've been following my blog, you know that that happens pretty frequently) to celebrate the Lunar New Year. What I thought was funny was that there was snow on the ground when we celebrated last year and it was no different this year. At least we didn't have as much this time around. My favorite sticky rice filled duck made an appearance tonight, yum! Mom also made her fan-favorite noodle dish. Nom nom nom. (That's me with my cousin, Emily)

Ahh, it feels nice to be able to get back to my cardmaking routine. Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #125. I'm so in love with the American Crafts Letterbox paper collection recently; I've used it in many of my cards in the past few days. This one is no different. The pink and chocolate brown definitely screams Valentine's Day. The sketch allows you to use 4 different panels of paper (great for using scraps!).
Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox (pink and brown), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl (pink butterfly)
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment), Inkadinkado (flower)
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Friday, January 28, 2011

Snow Day

What a whirlwind the past few days have been! The snowstorm that came through WED night hit us pretty badly. The snow was on the heavy side, causing powerlines and tree limbs to come down. It was scary to watch the thundersnow, transformers blowing up and branches cracking outside my window. At one point, a large tree branch fell and blocked the road in front of the house. I watched 3 men get out of an SUV, grab onto the branch, and drag it to the side so that cars could pass. We endured 2 nights without power, but managed to get it back today. We are left with 2 large tree limbs to cut up into smaller pieces for disposal. After being in a cold house WED night through this morning, I was thankful to be able to get to the office today and get a hot meal (hooray for monthly staff breakfast today!).

Poor Ginger. The fur coat wasn't cutting it in these conditions. She snuggled with Mom all day/night.

Sorry for the snowy interruption to my crafty program, it'll be back to normal tomorrow! :) I'm going to go enjoy some junk TV now.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Trigger Tuesday: Sweets for the Sweet

I wore my yellow puffy vest, white long sleeve, and black pants to work today. As I stepped into the hallway to go to the kitchen, the IT guy was like "Well, hello, bumblebee." Hardy har har. I wondered how long it'd take for someone to say something like that. It took all about 5 minutes. Do I know my officemates or what?

Here's my take on this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge (Sweets for the Sweet). Like whoa. Check out all that pink. Ok, so where to begin? Well, when I first looked at the picture, I thought the wrappers looked like the paper rosettes that are all the rage right now. I wanted to put a cream colored heart on top of the rosette to imitate the sweets in the picture. I completed the card with some pink and cream paper accents and of course, some rhinestones for some extra texture.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Rouge. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, and Barn Door
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox, Basic Grey- Bittersweet, American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl (pink textured)
Stamp: Inkadinkado (flowers), Fiskars- Romance (sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch, EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch), Marvy Uchida (heart)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Song of the day: "Hello World"- Lady Antebellum. Have you seen the music video? It almost made me tear up.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Productive Monday

As part of my professional development, I told my boss that I wanted to take a class in non-profit budget and finance basics. The class was today, and I thought it was really informative. What I thought was alien language at the beginning of the day actually started to make sense towards the end.

I reloaded my ATG gun all by myself today. Go me! Julie did it for me at the beginning of the month, so I had to read the instructions (thank goodness I kept them) and was good to go. For tonight's card, I wanted to use this bunny stamp that I bought last year, but had yet to use. I paperpieced the heart, leaf, and pot to add some color to the image. To add some visual interest and texture to the card, I heat embossed the heart and popped it up on a foam square.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird and Chestnut Roan
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamp: Inkadinkado (all)
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Sunday, January 23, 2011

CPS #202

Julie went back to school this morning. The second the car drove out of the driveway, Ginger went up to Julie's room. I wonder what she's thinking in this picture.
  • "Wahhh, Julie's gone. Cry cry cry."
  • "Mwah ha ha, the bed is all mine. Mine mine mine!"
  • "I'm hungry."
For this week's CPS sketch (#202), I wanted to use up some of the origami heart/postage stamp embellishments that I didn't end up using yesterday.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy (pink), American Crafts- Letterbox (blue), Die Cuts with a View (hearts)
Stamp: Studio G
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Die: Cuttlebug

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Martha Inspired

I was inspired by some Martha Stewart paper that I had seen in some scrapbook hauls today. I had yet to use the postage stamp-like die that came with my Cuttlebug, so I used it to cut some cream cardstock scraps that my friend Cristina gave me a while back. I cut 4 pieces out, folded some origami hearts, and adhered them to the cardstock pieces. And then I adhered them to the cardbase, stamped a sentiment and glued on some rhinestones for some sparkle. Ta da!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Stamp: Studio G
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Die: Cuttlebug

In other news, I was THIS close to not being able to attend spin class this morning. Fortunately, some people who had called to reserve their spot didn't come to class.

And my sister made some yummy lasagna this afternoon. I will fess up. My contribution to the culinary delight was opening the aluminum cans.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Fall-To Layout #124

I got this fortune in my fortune cookie tonight. I hope it's true. Ha ha. ;) I found the other picture in my camera when I was uploading my card picture tonight. Julie must have snapped it earlier today when I was at work. The title of it should be "Status: Zonked."
For this week's Fall-To Layout (#124), my butterfly punch came to my rescue again. I wasn't sure what to put as an embellishment. I wanted to use some chipboard, but the pieces that I had were too big. Fortunately, putting two butterflies on the left hand side of the panel was the perfect touch!
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy (yellow butterfly), American Crafts- City Park (orange polka dots), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl (orange butterfly)
Stamp: Fiskars- Friendly Flowers (sentiment)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Spelling Lessons

Julie's home for a little bit this weekend. Here's a snippet from our IM conversation earlier today. You have to read this conversation with the fact that my sister is a few hours away at school and doesn't just drop everything and come home normally. But I guess the timing was just right.

[14:25] Sister: ok, i'm coming home... hah
[14:25] Sister: they have an opening for tomorrow
[14:25] Me: uh like MD home? what?
[14:25] Me: you're coming home to talk to Dr. S?
[14:27] Sister: just a general check-up
[14:27] Sister: my tooth really isn't bothering me
[14:28] Sister: ok, i'm going to go back to the house and pack up then... b/c it's supposed to snow tonight
[14:29] Me: uh, you're going home now?
[14:29] Sister: yeah
[14:29] Me: oh, uh ok!
[14:29] Me: drive safely!
[14:29] Sister: perfect, b/c i need to do laundry this weekend... muah ha ha ha

Spelling was never my strength in school. Hello? That's why there's spell check. MS Word developers were geniuses when they decided to denote a misspelling with a red squiggle AND give suggestions on how to fix it. I wanted to use some chipboard letter stickers to spell out "Best Wishes." I counted the letters in the sticker package and thought I had the right number. But then I started peeling them off only to realize that I'm 1 "s" short. Shoot. I ended up handwriting the sentiment instead with a Ranger watermark pen and used white embossing powder to make it stand out against the pink paper. I really thought there needed to be something on the right of the sentiment, but I thought Prima flowers would have been too overwhelming. Fortunately, my Martha Stewart butterfly punch was standing by. P.S. Check out those bow tying skillz. :)

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: Ranger Perfect Medium pen
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

One-Layer Wednesday #37

This week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge (#37) focuses on sentiment stamps. The challenge was to use more than one sentiment stamp and no image stamps. I dug out some sentiment stamp sets and laid them out on my desk.

And then proceeded to stare blankly at them for a good 10 minutes.

This. is. tough. No image stamps? But that's the fun part!

Ok, ok, ok. This is why this is called a challenge.

So this is what I came up with. Some stamping and then some hand drawn lines. I think I'm going to call it a day there before I break out some embellishments or images and mess everything up. Quickest card EVER.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Charcoal
Stamp: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (i hope you know how much i care), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (Love You)
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sending Healing Thoughts from Afar

Tonight's card is going to a friend's mom that needs some support from afar right now. She can't accept food or flowers at the hospital because of the risk they pose to her current condition. Fortunately, cards will make it past the hospital guards. ;) I used this as an opportunity to break out my pack of American Crafts City Park paper because it's so bright and cheerful. I tried to incorporate as many personal things as I could.
  • She's an arborist so the tree fits.
  • I know she likes pink because during my last visit, her toes were painted with a bright shade of pink nail polish
  • The tree was a stamp that her daughter (my friend) got me for my birthday last year.
Now I have to figure out what to write on the inside. It's easy for me write cards for the happy times, but so tough to find the write words when times are tough. Can someone figure out how to send hugs? Some genius out there needs to get on that, mmmkay?

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Prussian Blue, Warm Green. StazOn in Cherry Pink
Paper: American Crafts- City Park (green and floral), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl
Stamp: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (sentiment), Hampton Art- Terrific Tree (tree), Inkadinkado (bird)
Punch: Carl Craft sakura punch

Monday, January 17, 2011

CPS #201

I saw this on a coworker's Facebook today and it made me smile.

Tip to reduce weight:
First turn your head to the left and then turn it to the right.
Repeat this exercise every time you are offered something to eat....

Dang, no wonder. I've been doing it wrong all along. My reaction is usually moving my head up and down and saying "Sure. Thanks!"

The forecast is calling for wintery mix tonight, so to make sure that I got a workout in today, I geared up and went for a 3.9 mile run this morning (yay for federal holidays). While I was running, I saw my cousin driving to work and some cute fat kitties in windows. It was (explicative)ing 20 degrees outside and I still went running. If that's not commitment, I dunno what is.

I also went to a 1-hour spin class tonight because a) I missed Anna's class last week and b) I didn't have a good excuse not to go.

My recent addiction to watching scrapbook haul videos has made me very curious about going to Big Lots (it's kinda a trek to get there), but I'm being good and sticking to my break from buying new crafty goodies for a month. I made it though a week so far.

ithinkicanithinkicanithinkicanithinkican.

For today's card (CPS #201), I wanted to use some of the Dear Lizzy paper that I snagged at Marshalls as well as a Dear Lizzy stamp set that I got in December. The dress image is so cute, so I decided to stamp it on two different sheets of patterned paper and cut them out. To add a little sparkle, I put a tiny rhinestone where the heart sits on the belt. I think I'll send the card to a friend tomorrow.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. StazOn in Jet Black
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy
Stamp: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (dress), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Doily Lace

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Working on Goals

Today was definitely "Working on New Year's Resolutions" day for me. This afternoon, my parents and I went to an open house for a 2 bed-2 bath condo that I had been eyeing for a while. I loved the pictures in the listing, especially the kitchen. However, the actual living space left much to be desired.
  • The unit was listed as B-1. I had wondered what the B meant. Now I know B is for basement. You look out the main window to see a slight hill. Sorry, I'd like more light in my space.
  • The listing said that the laundry room was a separate room. What they really meant was the the laundry room was a common laundry room that you'd have to share with other tenants. I had flashbacks to college dorm life. Meh, I'd like to not relive that, thanks.
At least now I can stop looking at that listing online and move on.

I went to hang out with my friend Meg for dinner tonight and catch up. When I got home, I saw that I got an email from Etsy Transactions. I love emails from Etsy Transactions. What was even better was that the buyer bought 6 items from my shop! This means that I'm over the 500 sales mark, yay! Perhaps getting to 625 sales by January 1, 2012 won't be so hard after all? Here's hoping! :D

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Guilt-Inspired Spinning

So, last week, y'all heard about my Guilt-Inspired Running. Today, we'll talk about Guilt-Inspired Spinning. I got to the gym right as the 8:30 AM spin class was starting. I was about to adjust the seat forward when I noticed that the knob was gone! Uh oh. I let the instructor know and hopped on a different bike that not yet been taken. I asked around, and people said that the clip was broken, but the bike itself wasn't taken. Since I don't use spinning shoes, I was good to go. Clearly the Exercise Gods wanted me to get a workout in today. After all the eating that I'd done these past few days, I felt like I needed to kick my workout up a notch so I stayed for the second class of the morning. I had no other plans, so I thought "Meh, why not?" I thought it was a 45 minute class like the 8:30 one, but when the second instructor said that we had "an hour allotment", I had a moment of panic. Uh oh. Well, I'm already here. And the class already started. I can't just leave! Thankfully, with the upbeat music, the class went by pretty quickly.

I was feeling pretty energized after class, but then that energy level came crashing down this afternoon so I took a nice nap.

I made some cards for the shop, but the project that I wanted to share today is a scrapbook page that I did of Ginger sleeping. I found this kitty paper that I bought maybe 2 years ago and I have finally found a use for it! I love how there are kitty-related words that go along with the kitty images. I made sure that the word "yawn" wasn't covered up so that I could make note of it using the arrow. I also liked how the paper could be easily cut into strips for this page. I tried to make the photos look like they were from a film strip by using the black borders, but without the little punch-out squares associated with film strips, they are just black borders. I wanted to make sure I tied in some orange since Ginger is an orange tabby cat. Finally, I added Glossy Accents and a few brads to the page to add some dimension and visual interest.

I'm going emo today with some black nail polish, but jazzing it up with some sparkles. Can you be emo with sparkles? Hmmm...I guess not. Never mind.

Page Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan. StazOn in Pumpkin.
Paper: K.I. Memories- Pet Shop Here Kitty, Die Cuts with a View- Citrus, My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow
Stamp: K.I. Memories- Mixed Up Alpha (z), Autumn Leaves- Universal Symbols (journaling spot)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore
Brad: Recollections- Silver Circles, Making Memories- Fresh Anthology
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Other: Glossy Accents

Friday, January 14, 2011

In-Person Committee Meeting, Day 2 + Fall-To Layout #123

Hoooooray! My in-person committee meeting was a success! There was a lot of brainstorming going on the past 1.5 days. While competing priorities and weather got in the way of people's travel plans, we didn't let that get in the way of making this a productive meeting and I'm so happy that people were flexible. People who said that they'd participate over the phone did and stuck it out for a few hours. At the conclusion of the meeting, committee members seemed like they had a good time, and most importantly, my boss and my committee chair left on a happy note. All the hard work and preparation paid off, and I'm grateful for everyone's contributions. I'm so fortunate to work with such a great group of people. :)

Here's my take on this week's Fall-To Layout #123. Even though my first instinct was to reach for some Prima flowers, I decided to branch out a little and use some of the chipboard elements that I got for my birthday last year. I like how this card is fairly gender neutral with the bright orange and cool colors (blue and green). The ATG gun came in real handy because the tape adhesive doesn't warp the paper/cardstock like liquid glue does. My investment is paying off!
Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox (pale blue), Die Cuts with a View- Citrus (yellow)
Other: Me & My Big Ideas- Chipboard Elements, Ellen Starfish Icons (leaf, starfish), Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker
Foam adhesive: EK Success

Song of the day: "Yeah 3x"- Chris Brown. Independent of his personal battles, I think that Chris Brown did a good job making this song catchy.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

In-Person Committee Meeting, Day 1

Whew! What. a. day. Today was Day 1 of my in-person committee meeting. I was happy to see that most people were able to make it into town considering the snowy weather we've been having on the East Coast. I'd say that today was productive, and with the strategic planning we did in the afternoon, it's nice to have some direction.

What's worse- falling asleep during a meeting or having someone call you out for falling asleep? That happened this afternoon to a meeting participant. Oops.

If you've been following my blog, you're probably very familiar with the committee meeting routine. There's lots of eating. This afternoon we had Middle Eastern food: hummus, chicken, rice, salad, and my favorite part: baklava. And then we took the group out to dinner tonight, where I had my usual chicken pot pie. I convinced the 2 co-workers to share a dessert with me: "a Chocolate Uprising, which is a chocolate brownie layered with vanilla ice cream, Callebaut Belgian chocolate and a warm caramel sauce." Everyone's eyes just brighten when they saw it brought to the table. After it circled around once, it still landed on my side. Yep, it tasted as awesome as it sounds.

It'll be an early morning again for my tomorrow. My goal is to get to the office at 7 AM. My ability to get to the school bus before 6:30 AM during high school is really a mystery to me.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Christmas 2010 Cards Scrapped

The snowy weather has put a cramp in my plans again. Well, not really MY plans, but the plans of some people that were supposed to come to an in-person meeting tomorrow. I got several emails and calls today saying "Uhh, sorry, Tina..." Oh well, what can you do? At least they can dial in on the phone.

I went out to dinner with my boss and my committee chair. We got Italian food, and I had some awesome meat lasagna. Yummm.

I took some inspiration from Nichol Magouirk's recent post about creating a page that would hold the Christmas cards she received the past holiday season. While I didn't have a fancy pocket like she has, I made my own with some adhesive and American Crafts paper. The snowflake was made by folding up a piece of paper several times and making random cuts in it. I felt like I was back in 4th grade art class. It'll be cool to look back upon this page in a few years and re-read everyone's holiday message.

Page Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red. VersaMagic chalk ink in Cloud White.
Paper: American Crafts- Merrymint
Stamp: Fiskars- Winter Wonderland (snowflakes), The Paper Company Studio- Christmas Expressions (sentiment, presents)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Darling (white)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tuesday Trigger: Bright Spot

The slowly falling snow (and freezing rain?) put a damper on my spin class plans tonight. Instead of slipping and sliding on the road, I decided to not chance it, stay inside and scrap the people pictures from the wedding last Saturday. I intentionally used the same elements as the wedding food page, since these pictures were taken at the same event: Prima flowers, Cuttlebug diecut flowers, rhinestones, etc.

Page Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Stamps: Martha Stewart- Clear Label Stamps (label)
Die: Cuttlebug- Flowers (flowers)
Flower: Prima
Button: Favorite Findings in Pink
Brad: Recollections- Rhinestone Brads
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Typo
Other: Magenta Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

For this week's Tuesday Trigger, I wasn't feeling really inspired right when I saw the picture. However, after I started going through my stamps, I found a sentiment that would be perfect for today's card. Because of all the light shining through the window, illuminating the room, I thought the sentiment "celebrate sunshine" would be appropriate. I chose bright colors that were featured in the picture and embellished the card with some glittered chipboard. I love how the green paper is slightly embossed. It's also got a pearly sheen to it. 48 loose 4x6 paper for $1.99 at Marshalls. Score.
Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Warm Green, Tangerine, Yellow Citrus, Orchid Pastel, Burnt Sienna
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox (brown zigzag), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl
Stamp: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (all)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Chipboard: American Crafts- Fieldhouse- Glitter Blue Skies

I'm off to watch a new episode of NCIS. Later, gators.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Wedding Reception Food Scrapped

This year, I want to get better about actually printing out digital pictures. I guess it's an unofficial New Year's Resolution. I have an almost complete package of photo paper in my desk drawer, and I don't want it to go to waste. Solution: scrapbooking! I'm always awestruck when I see crafty bloggers showcase their work online. They are so talented in how they tell their stories through the photos and decorate their pages so creatively. Last night, I made an effort to learn about clipping masks on Photoshop and cropping some of the food pictures from Jenny's wedding reception and creating a scrapbook page out of them. I'll be scrapping people pictures this week. Thanks, L, for sending this one over :)

From listening to Paperclipping Roundtable these past few months, the possibilities of scrapbooking are endless. 8.5x11, 12x12, mini books, etc. I decided to go with 8.5x11 because that's what I had available and I could easily scan it using my printer. 12x12 is too big for my printer and that amount of space is kinda intimidating. I used pink and teal as accents because they were colors seen in the destination wedding photos. I used cream cardstock and die cut flowers out of it, similar to this card, which I gave to the bride and groom on Saturday. I finally found a use for a label stamp so that I could include date information. My place card is attached on the upper right. As an aside, I'm glad that I was able to incorporate so many different supplies in this page. The sooner I use things up, the sooner I can buy new stuff. Mwah ha ha.

Page Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamps: Fiskars- Romance (heart), Martha Stewart- Clear Label Stamps (label)
Die: Cuttlebug- Flowers (flowers)
Flower: Prima
Button: Favorite Findings in Pink
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Typo
Other: Magenta Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Tonight, I went out to dinner with my current boss and my former boss. We went to Nando's, where I got a chicken sandwich, mashed potatoes (yum), and enough Coke Zero that I'm suspicious that it's what most of my water content is now.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Wedding Reception Recap

The wedding reception that I attended last night was really fun! I had a great time catching up with my graduate school friends and some people that I had seen at the bachelorette party. The bride was, of course, gorgeous in her white gown. The dining hall was quite decked out with greenery and candles and a picture slideshow from the destination wedding. The food was SO GOOD! I had the vegetarian option: "striped sun dried tomato and spinach ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and presented with roasted red pepper coulis and pesto creme sauce." And, it wouldn't be a complete meal without some dessert (I had some of the toffee, a chocolate covered strawberry, and a chocolate cupcake...whoops, sorry about the glare.). The mother of the bride was a busy bee in the kitchen last week, making all the goodies. When I was saying my good nights/thank yous, the groom asked me if I had taken pictures of the food. He has a good memory because at another wedding we had both attended almost 2 years ago, I took pictures of the food during that reception as well. Here are some pics from last night...I'll have to post one with the bride when it comes through my inbox.

My goal of not shopping for crafty stuff for a whole month took a nosedive. I went to Marshalls and found 2 packs of American Crafts paper (Dear Lizzy and City Park) for $5.99 each. Usually they retail at $20 each! Ok, the goal has been reset to no crafty shopping until January 9. Dang it, I'm a sucker for a good deal.

Here's my take on CPS#200. I wanted to make a birthday card for a family member's upcoming birthday. From what I've been told, his favorite color is purple. I chose to use kraft and black in order to make the card more on the masculine side. Edit: nope, wait, I change my mind. It still looks too feminine. Maybe it's the scalloped border or something? I dunno. I'll stick with this card.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Prussian Blue, Blackberry, Blackbird
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamps: Fiskars- Kids Birthday (present), The Paper Company Studio- Whimsical Birds (bird), Savvy Stamps (sentiment), Inkadinkado (balloons)
Paper: Die Cuts With a View
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Song of the day: "Just a Dream"- a cover of Nelly's song...sung by Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie. Yep, again.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Guilt-Inspired Running

I woke up to snow this morning. It was kinda expected, but I was surprised that it was coming down so quickly. I had plans to go to 8:30 AM spin, but with the snow, I didn't want to chance it. However, this change of plans worked in my favor because then I kinda felt guilty for not going which led me to feeling determined to get a workout in today. I waited a few hours for the snow to melt and went for a 3.9 mile run. I realized when I got home that 8K = 4.9 miles. I'm just 1 mile away from the 8K length. I think I can build up to that by the end of the month. ::fingers crossed::

Off to a wedding reception tonight for my friend Jenny, yay!

Song of the day: "Just a Dream"- a cover of Nelly's song...sung by Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie. Thanks to Julie for the link.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Fall-To Layout #122

I received my very first issue of Paper Crafts magazine (January/February 2011 issue) in the mail today. One of these days, I hope that one of my cards is featured in it! It's nice to have goals, right? :)

Here's my take on clean&simple's card Fall-To Layout card challenge #122. The card design is intended to be long lengthwise, so either 3.5 x 6 inches or 4 x 6 inches. However, with those dimensions, it's difficult to find an envelope that size. Maybe a #10 envelope? I'm not sure. Therefore, I went with 3 x 5.5 inches. That way, this card will still fit inside an A2 envelope. I was having a difficult time deciding what to do with the embellishments. I wanted them to be the same shade of red as the border punch. I didn't have any Prima flowers that'd match, but I did have some cherry blossom paper punches. For a final touch, I added some rhinestones for some visual interest. I totally loving the red/pink/chocolate brown color combination.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch
Stamps: Fiskars- Romance (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox, American Crafts- A La Carte

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Early Bird

Wow, I managed to get to the office at 7:30 this morning. In fact, I think I was the first one in today. This is a rarity, I promise you. 8:00 AM conference calls will do that to you. On the bright side, I was able to leave early and take a nice long post-work nap. It was awesome.

You know what's not awesome? Feeling sore the day after a run. You'd think that because I go to spin class frequently and use my leg muscles that'd I'd feel totally fine. But no. Unfortunately, that's be a wrong assumption. Well, considering I hadn't run outside in about a month, I suppose the soreness should have been expected.

Let's go back to things that are awesome: food at work. There was a presentation, and there was pizza provided. Yay!

Oh, another thing that's awesome (and then I'll get to today's card). Remember the homeless guy with the radio voice? Well, it looks he's gotten quite a few job offers to pick from now. He was even on The Today Show this morning and eventually reunited with his mother after 20 years. I almost teared up when I watched the video clip of him talking to his mother. It sounds like he turned his life around, go him! :)

For tonight's card, I thought back to this home decor challenge. While I don't have any lamp stamps, that doesn't mean that I can't a lamp image of my own. By turning a flower pot upside down, I created a lampshade and then I tacked on a vase as lamp's body. Ta da!

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red and Prussian Blue, StazOn in Jet Black
Stamp: Inkadinkado (alphabet), Fiskars- Friendship Flowers (flower pot, vase)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox, Die Cuts With a View- Citrus
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: EK Success

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

One-Layer Wednesday #35

SOMEone has been playing pranks on me at the office. Well, technically, it's the same one twice. I found my chair in the hallway instead of my office this morning when I came back from chatting with one of my co-workers. It happened again not too long after that. Of course NO ONE knows anything about it, and the IT guys and the administrative assistant insisted they haven't the slightest idea how the chair got in the hallway. ::eye roll::

I went for a run after work today! I can't remember the last time I did that. It's been a while, that's for sure. All the treadmills were being used at the gym after last night's spin class, so I told myself that I'd get a run in today. I managed to do 2.7 miles. This evening activity also gave me an opportunity to wear the new running vest (obnoxiously yellow for my safety) that I got for Christmas from Dad. I wonder if the vest had super powers. I felt like I was running faster than normal. Perhaps it's just a part of my imagination. Either way, I felt cool and official as I was running down the street. It felt nice to make a plan and stick to it. Going for a run was much healthier than my normal post-work activity: raiding the fridge.

This week's One-Layer Challenge (#35) focused on the color yellow. I was allowed to use other colors but yellow was supposed to be the focus of the card. I wanted to use my American Crafts Majestic stamp set, but I also wanted to think outside the box. What else could these swirly things be besides swirly things. Ah ha! Well, if I rotated the large stamp, it's kinda like a square. With a ruler and Sharpie, I made it into a house. The flowers in the lawn made it more like a home. I thought the congratulations sentiment stamp that I used yesterday worked for this card. It can be kinda like a "Congratulations on your new home!" card.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Warm Green, Yellow Cadmium, Yellow Citrus
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Stamps: Fiskars- Friendship Garden (flowers, leaves), Anita's (sentiment), American Crafts- Majestic (square flourishes)
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tuesday Trigger: Winter White

In an effort to be financially smart, I went grocery shopping today instead of getting a sandwich at Potbelly. Roughly a week's worth of lunches and snacks is equivalent to just 3 roast beef sandwiches. Yikes, there's some perspective for you! Grocery shopping is definitely the way to go if you got the time. Mom even donated a coupon holder that she wasn't going to use to me so that I could get my coupons organized. With my club card and coupons, I was able to shave off $7 off my bill. Woot.

Here's my take on this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. It's a very elegant wedding cake that's embellished with lots of flowers. Time to take out the Cuttlebug for this project! I used some flower dies to cut out all the flowers used for this card. Some were adhered directly to the card base and other with dimensional adhesive. To give the flowers some texture, I used some clear embossing powder (difficult to see in the picture) and went over the edges with some Distress ink. I took this as an opportunity to use some of the pearl brads that I bought this past weekend for a sophisticated touch. As a side note, who'd want to eat that cake? I'd feel guilty eating it because of all the work that must have gone into it to make it look so fabulous.
Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Stamps: Martha Stewart- Patterns (on flowers), Anita's (sentiment)
Die: Cuttlebug- Flowers (flowers)
Brads: Recollections
Foam adhesive: EK Success

Song of the day: "River Flows In You"- Yiruma. I heard this beautiful music during this Operation Beautiful video on YouTube. Click here to learn more about Operation Beautiful. Who knew that a simple Post-it note could make a difference in someone's day.

In other news, I hope that this homeless guy finds a job on TV or radio and that the gig at WNCI works out. His voice is amazing! I almost didn't quite believe it when he was first talking, but like whoa, it's for real.