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Monday, April 30, 2012

A Productive Day Off

Whoo hoo for a long weekend.  For a day off, I had a productive morning (notice that I say morning because this afternoon consisted of a nice nap).  All before noon, I was able to go to the ATM, the gas station, CVS to buy a new top coat because my OPI is too goopy to use, Kaiser Permanente to get my old medical records just to have them on file (the lady didn't even charge me!), the post office to send off card orders and old textbooks, the library to drop off donations, and my parents' house to say hi and raid the fruit bowl.

When I got home, I finished my card class prep and took a well deserved nap.  Days off are super nice. :D

Teaching my first card making class tomorrow...super excited! 

Song of the day: "Time Bomb"- All Time Low.  Heard it at spin.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

A Card-Filled Sunday

Today started out with an Etsy order from Norway.

Anyway, after spin class this morning, I met up with my friend Jessie for lunch to catch up and talk about an upcoming card-making class that I'm doing with some of her students.  Some of these young ladies don't have the best relationships with their mothers and with Mother's Day rolling around, Jessie thought these homemade cards with heartfelt messages would be a good way to help nurture these relationships.

After lunch, I got a Facebook message from a girl that I used to work with.  I actually made her bridesmaids cards about a year ago.  This time she asked for 6 Mother's Day cards.  Repeat customers are awesome :)

Saturday, April 28, 2012

TE Sketch Challenge #157

Donation time: Today's been kinda a blah day. I spent most of the day in donation mode- going to Goodwill to drop off my TV/VCR combo and some puzzles and then going through my closet to find more clothes to donate (then I can fill it back up with new stuff, right?) and boxing up some old textbooks that I no longer need (organic chemistry, what's that?). I've had that TV/VCR combo since sophomore year of college, but in the last few years I haven't been using it, so I'm hoping that someone will find some use for it.

RJ: At some point this afternoon, I fell asleep on the couch. When I woke, I found RJ sleeping on my pillow. Shouldn't it have been the other way around? Oh well, I guess that's just business as usual for this household.

Card: Here's the card for today. I decided to stop by Taylored Expressions for their sketch challenge (#157). The navy cardstock and yellow patterned paper were already laying around near my paper trimmer. I thought the red would be a good contrasting color, so I added a few strips of it. I was fortunate to find an American Crafts paper flower embellishment that would match the yellow that I already used. I didn't feel like stamping anything other than the sentiment.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Paper: American Crafts- A La Carte
Stamp: Savvy Stamps (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Floral Doily Motifs, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: American Crafts Delights (Party Favor), We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss in Slate

Friday, April 27, 2012

Recipe #7 of 2012

Family/ food: This past week, both Mom and Dad called separately to check on me. "We haven't heard from you in a while, just wanted to make sure you were okay." Oook. I guess a visit to the house is long overdue, so I stopped by after going to spin class this morning. It was a good thing that I did because my aunt and uncle were going to get some lunch (Peruvian chicken) to share. While we were waiting for them to come back from the restaurant, I showed Mom some recently pictures that I posted on my blog. She pointed at the Blogger profile picture of me from when I got my hair cut in March. "Who's that?" Uh, me. "Really? I didn't recognize you! You never wear your hair like that." Ha ha. The lunch was fabulous. The chicken was nicely seasoned and moist on the inside. We also got a bunch of side dishes: coleslaw, potato salad, Caesar salad, and rice/beans. My favorite of those was the rice and beans.

Recipe #7 of 2012: My sister has been raving about this new recipe that she tried- chocolate zucchini bread. Of course, I had to try it too. It was so good: moist on the inside, slightly crunchy crust on the outside.

Card class: I'm teaching my very first origami card making class next week. It's a small class (probably 11-12 students), but hey, everyone has to start somewhere, right? I worked on the class prep while I waited for the chocolate zucchini bread to cool down from coming out of the oven.
Good stories from the Internet:

Thursday, April 26, 2012

A Huggy Card

Food: The grocery store was having a sale on ice cream over the weekend, so I picked up a pint of Milky Way ice cream to try it out.  I only ate the first layer so far and am tempted to throw the rest out.  I don't think I've ever had that reaction to ice cream.  That's how much I don't like it.  I should have read the label more carefully.  Chocolate malt ice cream is NOT the same as chocolate ice cream.  My bad.


Card: The card today started with the rub-on sentiment, and the trick was to find all the other card elements that would match the colors in the rub-on.  Fortunately, I had things within reach that I could use.

Card Specs:
Ink: Stampin' Up in Cherry Cobbler
Markers: Stampin' Up in Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Recollections- Blue Gingham, American Crafts- Peachy Keen
Stamp: Stampin' Up
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Brads: Recollections- Silver Circles
Flowers: Prima, Recollections

I'm taking a few days off work and won't be back in the office until Wednesday.  What am I going to do with all that free time?!!  My boss told me that I will not be working on my days off.  Ha ha.  She knows me well.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Yellow Rose Card

At the office: There were some lunchtime presentations today at the office, and to encourage (read: bribe) us to come, the meeting organizers ordered pizza.  What was even better was that they bought 50 individual salads.  There was so much food leftover that I ended up bringing an extra salad home, but no pizza (hello, self control).

Card: Here's today's card.  My black embossing powder, Distress Inks, and Aqua Painter have been getting quite a workout recently.  It's such an easy way to color images (and cheaper than say, Copic markers, although I'm sure they are really cool to use).  Like I need a new thing to be addicted to. The rose background stamp that I got from the yard sale last week is $15 new, and I got it for $4 used.  Mwah ha ha ha.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint.
Stamp: Peddler's Pack Stampworks- Rose Background

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Office Prayer Card

We received some sad news at the office recently, and in an effort to show some support, I was asked to create a card that could be distributed for messages and signatures. I thought that gender neutral cards were hard to make, but with sympathy/prayer cards, that's a whole new level, especially when you personally know what's going on. It's tough to know what to do in these situations, but I'm hoping this card will lift some hearts during this difficult time.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Peeled Paint. Stampin' Up- So Saffron
Paper: American Crafts- Peachy Keen, My Mind's Eye- Stella & Rose
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Stipple Hydrangea, Inkadinkado- Nature
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Song of the day: "Payphone"- Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Hero Arts Floral Birthday Card


Rain, rain...: It rained all afternoon, so I took that opportunity to run some errands and then spend the rest of the afternoon doing house stuff (including vacuuming, wiping down the kitchen, wiping down the bathroom, and doing laundry) and making dal nirvana and black bean and banana empañadas.  Clean house and a full fridge = not a bad way to start the work week.

Card: So, here I am, making another card with new supplies.  What a concept right?  I have a friend whose birthday is coming up at the end of the month, so I thought I'd make her birthday card using the "new" Hero Arts stamp and "new" Stampin' Up ink pads/markers that I bought at the crafty yard sale on Friday, as well as a new Stampin' Up stamp from a set that I won.  My friend's favorite color is purple, so I used some Rich Razzleberry to color in the large flowers and used an Aqua Painter to color in the part of the flower close to the center.  I wish it blended better together, but oh well.  I think it still looks pretty.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Stampin' Up in Rich Razzleberry
Markers: Stampin' Up in Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Stamp: Stampin' Up- So Many Scallops, Hero Arts- Outline Flowers
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Punch: EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch)
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Saturday, April 21, 2012

CPS #261

Yard sale finds: There were many yard sales going on in my neighborhood this morning, so of course, I had to go check them out.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but it's still nice to look.  I ended up coming home with two green desktop organizers (they are on the right in the picture below). Original price was $16.49 each. Clearance price was $4.12 each. I bought them at the yard sale for 50 cents each. Bah ha haaaaaaa. I went to my car to get $1, and when I turned around, a little boy already brought them over to me to save me the trip back to the table. "Where do you want them?" he asked. "How about in the back?" I replied as I opened back car door. Then I hand him the dollar. "Yay, we got a dollar!!!!" I couldn't tell if he was genuinely happy or trying to be funny. I'm leaning towards he was genuinely happy.

Card: Here's my take on CPS #261.  Of course, I had to use some new goodies that I bought at yesterday's craft yard sale

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint. Stampin' Up in Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, and Regal Rose
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox, Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Stipple Orchid, Stampin' Up- Elementary Elegance (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Recollections Pearls

Friday, April 20, 2012

Crafty Yard Sale

I took the day off from work today to go to a crafty yard sale in Virginia.  This was a Friday/Saturday event, but I wanted to make sure that I went on Friday to have a better chance of getting more goodies.  If I went on Saturday, chances are that all the good stuff would be gone.  The host of the craft yard sale had a very large room as a craft room with shelving units and drawers everywhere.  Like whoa.  I thought I was a serious crafter, but she takes it to a whole new level.  Here's a video of the items that I got: Stampin' Up inks and markers and stamps, some dies, and Martha Stewart scoring board.  ::happy dance::

I started out my morning with an Etsy order (4 Mother's Day cards) from a co-worker.  It was really good timing because I was able to drop off the order at the office before going to lunch with some people.  We both joked that it was the best Etsy service she'd experienced ever.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Generosity Pays Off

On Tuesday night, I got a mass email from a co-worker (Ben) who had an extra ticket to a TH night concert at the Kennedy Center. The show was titled "National Symphony Orchestra: Andrew Litton, conductor / Stephen Hough, piano, plays Rachmaninoff." Hmm, this concert would be happening at the same time as the TH night spin class. Decisions, decisions. I went to bed that night still on the fence.

On Wednesday at work, I IMed my friend to see if the ticket was still available. It was, hooray! While I'm not a huge classical music buff (I played piano when I was growing up), I thought it'd be a good experience. The event would also get me out of the house and be social. Who wants a good ticket like that to go to waste, right? I had a good time and felt cultured/enriched afterwards.

In reference to the title of the blog post, I think it's important to be generous (i.e. leave a container of cookies or box of free cards in the office kitchen) and, eventually, people will be generous back. Everybody wins.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Baby Shower Card

I got a baby shower card request right before I left the office today. I'm glad my co-workers got to me today because the baby shower is on Monday next week and I'm out of the office on Friday, so tonight's really the only night I can work on this so that I'd be able to bring it to the office tomorrow for circulation. I really wish they had gotten to me sooner to ensure that the card makes its way around 2 office buildings, but that's out of my control.

My pregnant co-worker and her husband have decided to be surprised by the baby's gender, so I was tasked with creating a gender neutral baby shower card. Eek, toughie. Well, this is what I ended up with. I hope she likes it! :)

Card Specs:
Paper: Pebbles- Cats and Dogs
Punches: EK Success Postage Stamp border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Other: We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss in Candy Stripe, Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker
Stickers: Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type in Red

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hello, Discovery

I was kinda thinking that I wouldn't be able to see the shuttle fly around DC today, but funny enough, the second I turned to face my window, I saw something fly by off in the distance. I could hear my co-worker a few doors down, "That's the shuttle!!" It was super cool, even if it was really far away. I'd post my picture, but it's too grainy. My friend Meg gets this photo credit.If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's an article.

Monday, April 16, 2012

New Nail Polish

I woke up with a slightly sore throat this morning, so I decided to switch my "work from home" day from Friday to today. I'm taking Friday off anyway, so this worked out perfectly. With a few mugs of tea, I was good as new.

I tried a new nail polish today. It's Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep. I put two coats of it on my nail and added a top coat, but I noticed it started to chip after I got out of the shower tonight. Maybe I need to invest in a new top coat. Mine is getting really goopy anyway.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Family Dinner

My uncle is leaving to go back to Taiwan this Wednesday, so naturally, we thought it'd be a good idea to have one last group dinner before he goes home. We went to Bugaboo Creek steakhouse and I had the salad with chicken. After all the food that I ate in MN, it's time to get the food intake under control. I even skipped dessert and didn't mooch off my cousins when they got a slice of Boston cream cake. Hello, self control.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

St. Paul, Day 3 and Crazy Happenings, Part 2

Travel: Yay, it is SO nice to be home! Yesterday was a little interesting. I think the policy forum ended on a positive note. I was able to meet up with my committee chair for lunch because she works very close to the hotel that I was staying at. I'll be talking to her on the phone on Monday for a committee call, funny enough.

At the airport, I saw one of my coworkers, and it turns out that she was going to be on the same flight as me to Atlanta. She mentioned that a funny thing happened to another coworker and a participant of the forum (these two are from the same state). At the forum, we learned about how to talk to our legislative representatives and how to give an elevator speech if the opportunity ever presented itself. This other coworker spotted their state representative at the airport and strongly encouraged the forum participant to go to talk to the representative and she did! Who would have thought that she'd have to put her new skills to the test right away?!

We got out of MN late, unfortunately, and I was really nervous that I would have to RUN to my connecting flight to DC. It was a miracle that the next flight was at a nearby gate, so I had a chance to run to the restroom and then jump on the plane. There were people already on it! Whew, that was close!

RJ was very clingy when I got home. :)

Book #2 of 2012: While I was traveling, I started and finished I Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella has always been a consistent author for me, and I've enjoyed all her books, and this one is no different. The footnotes were an interesting quirk in the book, but I didn't think they were necessary. I finished this book just in time because Catching Fire (Hunger Games, Book 2) came in from the library and I picked it up today, yay!

Crazy happening: Which brings me to today. I dunno what it is about this week. It must be "Tina is a Weirdo Magnet" week, but no one thought to inform me. First, it was the down-on-his-luck guy earlier this week. And then today, someone came by the house this afternoon to set up an appointment to give an estimate on replacing windows to make them more energy efficient. There was no opportunity in there to say no, so I set the appointment up. The guy kept talking to me and started to creep me out by asking personal questions about me and RJ and standing in the doorway. I was equally freaked out that RJ would run outside. Once the guy left, I promptly went to the hardware store to get a door guard for the front door for extra security. The hardware store guy helping me asked who I was trying to keep out. "Uh, scary people." (Obviously, duh.)

"Well, yeah, you never know these days. Don't worry. If that person comes around again, I'll come help you."

(By now, I'm thinking, "Oh, great. Are you a crazy person too?")

"Do you want some mace?"

(o_0 Uhhh, say what? Ok, I'll give him a chance. Maybe he's actually trying to help me out.) "Uh, sure."

He goes and gets the mace from another part of the store and I picked one from the selection he offered. "Hopefully you'll never have to use this." He said something else about if I needed some extra protection, and he pointed to the taser that was clipped to his belt. WTH?! "What do you need THAT for?"

"To keep the scary people away."

(Oh, you don't want to mess with this guy. I guess his scary people are scarier than my scary people.)

These two incidences this week have really elevated my paranoia and hermit tendencies. This is kinda messed up, huh? I want to come across as an approachable person, but this seems to be more trouble than it's worth!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

St. Paul, Day 2

What does it say when I'd rather sleep in my smaller bed that's covered in cat hair than this large king sized hotel bed? It says I like my bed, no matter what.

Today went much better than I thought. I was participating in a training on policy and legislation as a part of professional development. I was a little nervous that it'd be a snore fest but I was wrong. The speakers were well selected, people who were engaging and inserted humor when possible.

For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant and I got gnocchi with meat sauce. It was so filling, I wasn't able to finish it.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

St. Paul, Day 1

Whew, I made it! Not much to report from today since I was in some mode of transportation for most of the day.

I saw a seeing eye dog on the Metro today. He was being so quiet, laying down by his owner's feet that people that took the empty seat next to him were startled but amused by the dog.

When I was going through security this morning, I saw a dad with his kids. The dad went through the X-ray machine with a tuxedo cat, which made me feel even more guilty about leaving RJ at home.

Dinner tonight was pad thai at a nearby restaurant. Yum!

I decided to not bring my laptop on this trip so this is strictly blogging through my iPhone and Blogger app. Thank goodness for technology!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

On the Way to Safeway...

Crazy happenings: Ok, going to MN tomorrow for work and of course, I need to pack some traveling snacks because y'all know that airport food can be expensive. So, I decided to step away from my desk at work for a little bit to go to Safeway. This guy walking with another guy started talking to me when I was walking to Safeway. One guy said hello and how was my Easter. and then I guess I must have looked startled or confused because he then said something about not meaning to alarm me by approaching me. I said "no worries" and continued to walk. I could hear this guy calling for someone as I was walking away and I realized he was talking to me. He went into this story about how his daughter just started her period and how he doesn't have enough money for feminine products. He had questions about how his girl should be taking care of herself during the next couple of days and if he had to watch over her. He seemed genuine about it. I asked him if he wanted me to buy products for him or if he wanted the cash. he asked for the cash and I gave him $5. He was very thankful, shook my hand and we parted ways.

Mmmyeah.

I was half expecting "What Would You Do?" television cameras to pop out from the bushes.

This was kinda a reality check for me. It reminded me how lucky I am to be able to walk into the grocery store, get what I need, check out and continue with the rest of my day. There are many people out there that are not so fortunate.

Etsy: At some point, I will buy this print that I saw on Etsy. It reminds me of RJ.

Nail polish: Target was having a sale recently on Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polishes. I picked up 2. Here's one of the colors- Slick Slate. It's definitely not my usual bright style, so I think it'll take some time to grow on me.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Butterfly Card

Surprise visitors: I decided to switch my work-from-home day from this Friday to today because I'll be in MN on Friday anyway. I'm glad that I was at home because this afternoon, I had opened the front door to let the sun in and I saw a person with a familiar green coat walk by. It was my friend Beth and her mom. I called out to them and invited them inside. Beth is currently knee-deep in the "rent or buy" debate and was showing her mom, who was in town visiting, the area. RJ, the shmoozer that he is, was very friendly to the guests.

Card: Here's the card that I made today. My goal was to a) use paper from this Stella and Rose pack that I bought a while ago but barely put a dent in and b) use a Sizzix tag die that I haven't used in a while. The card has a vintage feel to it, which is totally not my style at all, but I think it works. In case you can't see in the picture, the butterfly is accented with Liquid Pearl.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackberry. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, Antique Linen
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Stella and Rose
Stamps: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (sentiment), Stampin' Up- Stipple Butterfly
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Victoria)
Other: Liquid Pearl in Platinum Pearl
Die: Sizzix- Tags, Scallop Combo #2 (tag), Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers

Sunday, April 8, 2012

CARDS Magazine Sketch Challenge

Book: I finally finished The Help and of course, I loved it! I have some travel coming up this week, so I'm hoping I can finish another 2 books (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the new Sophie Kinsella book, I've Got Your Number) while hanging out at the airport and on the plane.

Card: Here's my take on this week's CARDS Magazine challenge, which focused on this sketch. To ensure that all the patterned paper matched, I stuck to one paper pack. The only part that I was stumped on in this sketch was what to do with large flower on the left. I suppose I could have used a die, but instead I cut out one of the large flowers in one of the sheets of patterned paper.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Round Frames
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Carla Craft sakura punch, Marvy Uchida Jumbo Daisy
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Liquid Pearl in White Opal
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Sunflower Yellow, Recollections

Friday, April 6, 2012

Fall-To Layout #185

Yard sale womp: I've been eyeing a local yard sale listing for a few days and debated on going to it because they advertised Stampin' Up sets for $5 (!!). I told myself that if I went to the 1-hour spin class, I could go as a reward. I went to the class and went to the yard sale afterwards, only to find that I didn't really like any of the stamp sets that were offered. I thanked the owner and quickly walked back to my car before I changed my mind. At least I got a work out in.

Dessert!: I've had a recent craving for almond milk jello. Mom makes it sometimes during the summer months, but I want it now and she's out of the country until next week. Time to take things into my own hands...and kitchen. I followed this recipe from AllRecipes.

Movie news: Captain America sequel? Yes, please.

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #185. How cute is that ladybug? :)

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamps: Studio G
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, EK Success Postage Stamp border punch
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Felt Embellishments: K.I. Memories Puffies- Picnic

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Butterfly Dreams Birthday Card

At the office: My boss's bosses came in to my office at an inopportune time, as I was checking crafty blogs with a mouthful of pad thai. "Tina, I lost my computer" and points at the laptop. "Uhh, maybe you should talk to IT?" (I didn't know what to say...how does one lose his computer??) 15 minutes later, he accepted a calendar appointment that I sent him, so I was hoping that meant that he found his computer. I went down the hall to ask him about his computer and something unrelated. "Um, it was on my desk the whole time. It was in the corner, I just didn't see it." I did a "palm-to-forehead" smack in my head and moved onto other business. Sigh.

ATG gun refill order: I was on the hunt for some cheaper ATG gun refills, and on the Two Peas in a Bucket forum, some folks were talking about The Tape Depot. I went to their ebay store and purchased a set of 3 for $8.80 ($2.93 per roll) on Sunday and the order came today as estimated. So far I haven't seen a difference between these rolls and the 3M ones. While I'm pleased with this purchase, maybe it'd just be easier to use a coupon at Michaels or ACMoore so I don't have to wait.

Card: I'm SO glad that the refills came in because using liquid glue can get kinda messy. Anyway, moving on. Here's a card that I made last night after I uploaded last night's post. My goal was to use a butterfly stamp set that I won recently. I also wanted to use a rub-on from a set that was sitting on my desk and some ribbon because I have been neglecting my ribbon supply.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in White
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Stamps: Savvy Stamps (sentiment), Bombshell Stamps- Butterfly Dreams
Paper: American Crafts- A La Carte
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Rub-on: American Crafts, Mini Marks, Accents, Book Three
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Liquid Pearl in White Opal

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Mmm, Cupcake

Yay, Repeat Buyer: My office next door neighbor bought 3 cards from me today. Yay!

Mmm, Cupcake: Today was one of my co-worker's last day, so as a send off, her supervisor got a selection of cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes. I, of course, got a red velvet one. The cream cheese frosting, just by itself, is so good and then paired up with the cake...it was fully awesome. I went back into the kitchen a half hour later and saw that the leftovers cupcakes were in there (leftover cupcakes, how can there be such a thing?!). Of course, I didn't want to have any of them go to waste, so I helped myself to another one. This time, it was a chocolate cake + chocolate frosting one. It was yummy, but red velvet still rules my world. Between free cone day yesterday and cupcake day today, it's been a great food week!

RJ: The other picture is of RJ hanging out under my craft desk. That's not his usual hangout spot so maybe he was feeling especially needy last night.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Free Cone Day!

Free food: Did you cash in on Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's today? I definitely did. One scoop of Phish Food in a sugar cone. Yum!

Post-burpee challenge: While I didn't feel any soreness yesterday after doing my 7-minute burpee challenge, I definitely felt it today when I got out of bed. What's with the 24 hour delay? It's called delayed onset muscle soreness. Who knew there was such a thing! Fun times.

Card: I was determined to use an American Crafts Delight paper flower today. I also had some blue and orange paper around, which matched the paper flower perfectly. I made sure that I had coordinating buttons before I glued everything down. Now that I'm looking at the picture of the card, maybe the card needs some brown stitching around the edge of the card. What do you think?

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Paper: Chatterbox (orange), Die Cuts with a View (blue)
Stamps: Studio G
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Apron Lace border punch
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Paper Flower: American Crafts Delights- Slide

Monday, April 2, 2012

Fall-To Layout #184

Beauty product rave: I almost never wear my hair down because it's thick and can be wavy if I don't spend some serious time with my hair straightner. I'm definitely a pony tail girl, but after getting my hair cut a few weeks back and actually spending time to make my hair look nice, I'm actually wearing it down more often these days. GASP! The two products that have really helped are Dove Therapy Go Fresh Therapy Conditioner, Energize Grapefruit & Lemongrass Scent and L'Oreal Everstyle Smooth & Shine Crème (yep, I bought these with my own money and have not been paid to say this).

Card: My co-worker asked me if I could bring in some thank you cards so she could buy a few. Well, of course, sure! This came at a really good time because I just spent some money on refills for my ATG gun. Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #184.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Letterhead
Brad: Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Other: Brown Ultra Fine Point Sharpie

Song of the day: "Call Me Maybe"- Carly Rae Jepsen.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler + Prize!

Dinner/Movie: Last night, I went to hang out with Beth. After dinner at an Italian place, we watched the movie Bridesmaids on HBO, which was funny and better than I expected. I was thinking it'd have shades of Hangover, but I feel like Bridesmaids had a serious, mid-life crisis undertone. I, of course, had to listen to "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips a thousand times since then.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler: I fulfilled my friendly duty by going to the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler this morning to cheer Meg on. Her parents were in town because her dad was going to run in the race as well. I was able to link up with both Robyn and Meg's mom (technology is awesome) and we were able to see Meg and her Dad around mile 4 and at the finish. This worked out so much better than last year. It was pretty awesome to see the elite runners; boy, are they quick!

April Fools!: While I was at the race today, I checked Facebook and there was a post saying that my cousin got engaged. HUH? I texted another cousin to confirm this news and he replied "April Fools." Aw, crap. If I would have been able to read the comments related to that post, I would have gotten the whole story (but they were in Chinese, so I couldn't). Nicely done though.

Food: The black bean and banana empañadas that I made the other day were a big hit. I gave 2 empañadas each to my dad, uncle, and cousin. With all that sharing, I, of course, had to make another batch so that I'd have food for this upcoming week. I also made another batch of dal nirvana.

Yeah, I like to eat.

Sue me.

Burpee Challenge: I wanted to revisit the burpee challenge that happened at the CrossFit class that I went to in February with my sister. How many burpees can you do in 7 minutes? Tonight was 53, compared to 47 in February. A slight improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

Prize!: A few weeks ago, I submitted this card to Card Positioning Systems for Sketch #256. They randomly pick a winner for the prize (that week, the prize was a $20 gift card to Bombshell Stamps), and I won! I picked the Butterfly Dreams set because I thought it was the closest set to my style. They have a bunch of images that would be perfect for Copic coloring, but seeing as I don't any of those types of markers, I will be okay with watercoloring some butterflies. I ordered the set last Saturday (March 24) and received the order yesterday (March 31). I wasn't in a huge rush to use them, so the week wait was not a big deal to me.