Rough Start, Happy Ending

Ooook, so today didn't start off on the best note ever, but it did end on a good note. Lemme explain.

#1- Woke up late. I pressed the snooze button on the phone way too many times that it just gave up on me.

#2- When I was walking to my car this morning, I saw this random piece of lettuce on the ground. HUH? Weird. Whatever. Then I get closer to the driver's side door. There's this smear of yellow on the driver's side window! o_0 Are you serious? I have no time for this! At first I thought someone had egged my car last night, but I didn't find out until I was wiping it off that it was cheese! At this point, if I were a cartoon, there would be thunderstorms above my head and weird symbols indicating all sorts of colorful and creative profanity. The window was greasy. There were bits of meat everywhere. When I walked back to the house to discard the dirty paper towels, I saw a burger wrapper and part of a bun. Yep. I have concluded that a cheeseburger was thrown at my car.

While I was cleaning up my car as best I could, my cousin was on his way to work and saw that I was scrubbing my car. I explained what had happened and apparently in a very loud voice because another cousin that's staying at the house for a little bit heard the entire story from the guest room. Hopefully the whole neighborhood didn't hear my tirade.

Well, the car's as clean as it's going to get at the moment. Let's move onto the better part of my day, mkay? So, I've been craving key lime pie for a while and because homemade is the way to go, I did some recipe research. This is what I came up with. Ready? BTW, this was the original recipe, but I modified it based on the reviews. Modified version is below.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Combine 2 cans (1 can =14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk, 4 egg yolks, 3/4 cup of lime juice, some zest from a fresh lime.
• Pour "batter" in 9 inch premade pie crust. Bake in oven for 19 minutes. Stop baking when you can see little pin holes at the top of the pie.
  
• Cool pie to room temperature (or shove in freezer, if you are impatient like me) to desired consistency.
  
• Eat super delicious pie. :D It's just the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. Pure awesomeness.
  

The end. Tune in tomorrow for cards.

BBQ #1

Spin class was completely packed this morning! I was worried that I wouldn't get a spot because I forgot to call in the day before to make a reservation. Fortunately, I was able to snag a bike near a fan. I definitely needed it. With all the warm bodies, I think it makes the room really humid. I thought I saw the mirrors fog up at one point!

My mom's garden has really been blooming recently. I included a few pictures that I took this afternoon of some of her pretty flowers (see below).

The grill got its first workout for this BBQ season. We enjoyed some steaks, chicken, salad, pasta salad (that I contributed), and some red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory at the last minute. Yummm!

For today's card, I wanted to use some cardstock that I messed up on another card I was working on this afternoon. I printed a sentiment using my printer, but then the resulting words were lower than I wanted them to be, so I cut that portion off with my paper trimmer and came up with a smaller sized card. No need to waste! I also wanted to use a non-traditional color for the floral image. Usually, I'd reach for a bright red (as I did in this card) or a vibrant blue, but I chose the coffee color (an ink I hadn't used before) and had the flower embellishments be the colorful element of the card instead. There's not a lot going in the card, but I like its simplicity.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Creamy Brown and Warm Red
Stamps: Inkadinkado (sentiment and flowers)
Punches: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Surprise in the Garden

I wanted to make a quick and easy card before dinner tonight because I knew that I had stuff to do after spin class (phone call with a friend and The Hills/The City on TV) and I didn't want to be up later than I had to to make a card. I challenged myself to make a one-layer card. I wanted to make sure to make the card really colorful since I wasn't planning to use any sort of embellishments. What? No rhinestones? Yes, shocking. I also did something that might make some people cringe: I cut the sentiment stamp so that it'd be on two lines instead of one. Meh, I guess I could always line the sentiment back up for another card. No biggie. Cutting the stamps allows for more flexibility in how you want images to look. When the card was done, I was pleased that it was rather gender neutral.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Tangerine, Prussian Blue, Warm Green, Yellow Cadmium, Chestnut Roan
Stamp: Fiskars- Birthday (dots, sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Ginger was taking a nap on the dining room table, so I moved her to the sun room because Mom was setting the table for dinner. She looked so fluffy, warm, and cute as she basked in the sunshine. Also, Mom randomly found a robin's egg in the garden today. Do you think it'll hatch? What would we even do with a baby robin?!
I found out at spin class that Jeff is not teaching TH night spin class anymore. :( Not sure what's up with that. I haven't been to a TH class in a while, so I'm curious to see who's teaching now. Janice (the Tuesday class instructor) complimented on the new pink top that I bought over the weekend. Having new cute workout clothes IS motivation to go to the gym. :)

I wanted to follow up on the health tidbit I mentioned a few days ago about throwing away makeup that I hadn't used in a while. I came across this nifty cheat sheet on BellaSugar. I guess if you throw some stuff away, it'll give you an excuse to buy new stuff, right? :D

Stimulating the Economy

This morning started with going to spin class (yay). I dunno if I'll go to spin class tomorrow morning because I noticed that the instructor that's teaching tomorrow isn't someone that I'm a huge fan of. However, I'd like to get a workout in because of a MPH girls potluck tomorrow afternoon. I foresee lots of eating and chatting. My contribution is some pasta salad (see photo). I was going to make a casserole, but couldn't think of anything that would be a good compliment to the pizza that's going to be served.

After spin class, I spent most of the afternoon stimulating the economy aka shopping, but nothing that involved going to a craft store (shocking, I know). I got new shoes for work (to replace the ones where the heel is complete worn down to the nail), new hoop earrings (to replace ones that I broke a while ago) and moisture-wicking workout clothes (because working out with cotton t-shirts is uncomfortable). I resisted the urge to buy a discounted scrapbook paper pack and bubble tea. ::pats self on the back::

Observations during my afternoon:

• Little girl at DSW- "Ooo, Mommy. I LOOVE these sandals." Ah, I see a future shoe addict. Welcome to the dark side.
• A woman at Macy's was trying on pierced ear earrings. I thought it was unsanitary and very briefly thought of saying something to her, but I thought that it was possible that she bought those earrings and if she didn't, if someone bought the earrings, she should clean those earrings before wearing anyway, right?

Not feeling particularly crafty tonight...maybe I'll put a movie on or read Harry Potter 7.

Photographic Wednesday

Can you believe it? It's already Wednesday. Wow. Highlights from today:

• I went to Potbelly this afternoon for a snack. I came back with sour cream and onion chips and an oatmeal CCC. Yum!
• We have a new member of the neighborhood. The couple next door have a new baby boy. There were blue balloons flying outside their house when I came home from work today. Awww.
  
• I was so thankful for the sun this afternoon. I went around the backyard with my camera to shoot some pictures of Mom's garden. Here are my favorite shots. And of course, I had to take a few of Ginger, right before she took a nap.
• I continued to work on my inventory for the upcoming craft fair tonight. My crafty mood's in overdrive because there's no spin tonight. Tonight I focused on Mother's Day cards. I made several, but I couldn't choose just one that was my favorite, so I picked two. Hooray for Prima flowers!

Pictures from today...

A Joyful Wednesday

Is anyone's week whizzing by? Raise your hand. ::raises hand::

Hooray, I snagged an Etsy sale today! Someone is getting ahead on his/her Easter shopping because the card that sold was my origami panda Easter card. My day gets a little brighter when I get an email from Etsy Transactions. :)

There was no spin class tonight, so I spent time working on a card for submission and one to post on my Etsy shop. This is what I came up with. It's a spin off of a sketch that The Paper Crafts Connection included in their September/October 2010 call for submissions. I wanted to get some use out of the DCWV Citrus matstack and use a stamp that I haven't used before. Here's what I came up with. I love that shade of red that I used for the sentiment. Whoa, there are a lot of patterns going on there, but I think it works.

The other picture is of tonight's dinner aka today's Project 365 picture. My aunt prepared some beef that goes really well with noodles in soup. Check out that yummy goodness!Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Lipstick Red
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- You Go Girl! (sentiment)
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Citrus (red, stripes), My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow (polka dot butterfly), Die Cuts with a View (yellow butterfly)

Song of the day: We have a tie! "Hey, Soul Sister" - Train and "All I Do is Dream of You"- Michael Bublé.

Patience is a Virtue

Patience. It's tough.

The waiting. Sometimes intolerable.

You think I'm talking about patience with other people?

Nope.

I'm talking about having patience with oneself. Tonight was one of those nights that I really felt creatively stumped. I was SO ready to get started on work that I could submit to card magazines (see new goal in this post), but when I looked at the "call for submissions" of one particular magazine, I had no idea what to do. I dug through my stamp stash and couldn't really think of anything that I thought was brilliant enough. I literally sat there for about half an hour and started to feel frustrated with myself. It shouldn't be this hard. What's wrong with me? Why can't I think of a card to put together? I finally took a deep mental breath and decided that I wasn't going to ruin my own evening because I couldn't take a chill pill. I decided to put the magazine thoughts aside and work on something else.

That brings me to today's card. My cousin's birthday is coming up. She's not really a girly girl, so I had to refrain from using any sort of glitter, rhinestone, or ribbon. She's a pilot, but since I didn't have any airplane stamps, I went with these cute vehicles instead. The dashed lines were made by curving the clear stamp on my acrylic block. I like the card, despite the rough start this evening. I guess my parting crafty thought tonight is don't force creativity...you'll probably end up wasting supplies.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus, Lipstick Red, Blue Lagoon, Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Savvy Stamps (sentiment), K.I. Memories-It's a Boy (car, truck), Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (dashed line)

The self portrait was taken between getting home from work and going to spin class. I was just randomly fidgeting with my camera and was surprised that I liked any of the shots that came out. It'll be today's Project 365 picture.

Tonight's spin class was a good workout. And "cute gym front desk guy" was working tonight. He didn't quit, as I was beginning to think since I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. :D

Song of the day: "Live Like You Were Dying"- Kris Allen. Yep, haven't gotten tired of it yet. However, HOT99.5, could you phase that Ke$ha song out sometime? It's getting really old.

Snowpocalypse #2: It Begins

My very understanding boss let me work from home today. I didn't think there was a point to go to the office only to have to come home in 4-5 hours. The Feds were closing 4 hours early so that people could get home before the snowstorm started. I WAS going to take the day off, BUT a) I didn't get what I needed to get done by today and b) I was already going to be cooped up at home because of the snow. I might as well be a good employee and get some work done (even though I was up until midnight emailing for work last night!).

It's been snowing non-stop since about 11 AM. I'm a little nervous to see what I wake up to tomorrow morning. The snow is seriously blowing around outside! The weather man mentioned that the snow this time will be wet snow, which translates to it being more difficult to shovel. Oh, goody. Even though I probably won't make it to spin class this weekend because of the snowy/icy roads, I'll probably get a workout by shoveling tomorrow. Oh, well. What can you do? I guess take snow pictures, shovel snow, and hunker down inside and make cards. The clear stamp lot could not have come at a better time!

Snow Pictures, taken around 5:30 PM

Here's today's card. All the stamps featured in the card are from the Ebay clear stamp lot I got in the mail on Monday. I really like the Autumn Leaves flower set because there are so many possibilities of the flowers you can create, since there's a selection of different petals and leaves you can use. I picked out a striped petal and a "loves me, loves me not" petal for this particular color. The pink, yellow, green color combo worked in this card so I used it again for this one.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, StazOn in Mustard, Cherry Pink, and Cactus Green
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment), Heidi Grace- Paradise (green flowers), Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (red flower)
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch

I'll leave you guys with a picture of Ginger. So you've heard of "the Cat in the Hat"? I live with the cat in the box. I mean, seriously, how is this comfortable? Don't you get a crick in your neck?

Song of the day: "According to You"- Orianthi. Heard this on the radio recently, it's catchy!

The Weather is Snowy Outside, Crafty Inside

Hey, folks! Hope your weekend has gotten off to a good start. Mine started with the cell phone alarm going off and the internal dilemma of whether or not to go to spin class. I figured, ok, I'm already up. I might as well go be productive. I got to the gym, and *gasp* someone took my bike! I mean, I know that anyone can sit anywhere, but I felt like back in school, there was that unspoken rule about how the seat you sit in the first day of class is the seat you sit in for the rest of the semester. It's possible that "my" bike was her bike too. Oh well. I ended up taking the bike one seat up.

Afterwards, I went to the post office to mail off an Etsy order. The post office is located within a mall, and they were doing some sort of summer camp expo. Lots of booths were set up with information and goodies to encourage kids (and parents) to stop by. I found it funny how they were focusing on summer camp, and it's been snowing all day. Summer seems like a long way from now!

It's been snowing all day long. It started around 9 or 10 AM, and I think it's still going on (granted it's probably slowed down some). I thought the weather forecast was 2-4 inches, but I think we're approaching 6-7 inches. The road outside isn't looking too safe.

Although I was cooped up inside, I was productive today. Made a few cards, took a nap with the cat, and did laundry. Yep, super fun. Here's Ginger, who already had a head start on the nap this afternoon. I used this as my Project 365 photo today.

On to today's cards. Yep, plural. As in more than one.

Card #1. I really wanted to use a rub-on for this card. I started rubbing the flower on, and I noticed that the little flower offshoot was scratched and unsightly. Internal thoughts: "Oh, *beep*. Noooo. Ok, do not panic. I can make this work." I ended up cutting the bad part off, preserving the main flower. Whew, crisis averted. I don't like how the ribbon frayed slightly where I cut it, but I guess that's normal for that type of mesh (?) ribbon.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment)
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Ribbon: Wired Edge Ribbon from Michaels
Rub-on: American Crafts, Mini Marks, Accents, Book Three

Card #2. I dug out my watercolor crayons that I haven't used in forever and used them with this flower stamp from Inkadinkado. I had no idea what to do with the space on the bottom left. I guess that's what happens when you kinda make a card without a real plan. Heh. I decided to fill it with a ribbon bow, but I don't know if all the aspects of the card flow together. I thought I'd share anyway.

Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: All Inkadinkado
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch and EK Success Circle punch (1 3/8 inch)
Ribbon: From Michaels
Watercolor crayons: Staedtler

Song of the day: "Cowboy Casanova"- Carrie Underwood. Heard this at spin this morning.

A Bewitching Evening

I'm watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as I type up this blog post. This is the only movie that I've gone to see at the theaters more than once. Yep, I liked it that much.

I snapped this picture of Ginger tonight for Project 365. She's been camping out in the pear box that my parents used to carry groceries from Costco this past weekend. The box has moved to several rooms in the house and wherever it is, she's sleeping in it. I don't get it. How can it be more comfortable than her basket?

Anyway, moving on. My challenge tonight was to make a card with a color that I don't normally use- purple. I also dug out an owl stamp and a package of rub-ons that I haven't used in a while. This card is based loosely on CPS#150. I'm totally loving the Colorbox chalk ink that I bought this past weekend. I'm finding that the StazOn ink pools on the clear stamp slightly, leaving a blotchy looking stamped image. And that's great if that's the effect that I'm looking for (i.e. in this flower card), but most of the time, I want an even image. By the way, I'm getting better with using those foam adhesives. :D

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Studio G (owl), Inkadinkado (sentiment)
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Ribbon: Spool O' Ribbon
Rub-on: American Crafts, Mini Marks, Accents, Book Three
Foam adhesive: Making Memories

Song of the day: None. I was too busy working on those meeting minutes at work and watching Harry Potter this evening to get into any music today.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I'm going to get back to the movie. Later gators.

Foody Sunday

First, a few thank yous in no particular order...

• Thank you to Jenny, Cristina, and Laura (ladies, are you reading this? ::wave::) for a yummy lunch today. Good company + good food = good times. :)
• Thank you, blog followers, just for reading my blog. I hope I continue to keep your interest and that you continue to stop by.
  
• Thank you for all the wonderful compliments I received regarding yesterday's haircut.

Speaking of the lunch today...wait, I'm not even going to get to the food yet. Let's talk about the tablescape that the hostess's mom put together. Seriously, how festive is this?! I really liked the hurricane candle holder center piece with the cranberries and tea lights so I snapped a picture of it and used it as today's Project 365 picture. Okay, onto food. So much yumminess: baked ziti, quiche, salad, fruit salad, veggie pizzas, pb brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip pound cake, and spiced cider. By the way, I started out with 2 loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip pound cake last night. Now, I only have 1. Yes! Sharing is caring...and also, I'm not stuck eating it myself!
Moving on. Some minor things that aren't involved enough to get their own full paragraph.

• I used my new GPS for the first time today. I can't believe I left the house without the usual GoogleMaps printout. I just put all my faith in the little black gizmo and trusted that it'd get me to lunch today. Hmm, reliant much?
• I went to Joann's craft store after the lunch today and even though I found some Studio G stamps that I liked and even had them in my hand as I was standing in the check out line, I ended up putting them back and left the store with nothing. I didn't feel like I had thought through exactly what I wanted to do with them, and I wanted to stick to my New Year's resolution of actually using stuff I buy. Gotta crack down on my own impulsive buying!

Here's today's card. I used a scalloped embellishment from a Paper Magic card kit because I thought it was cute. Staying true to my New Year's resolution (see above bullet), I opened an unused package of foam squares. I have never used them before because usually, when I want to create a 3D effect, my origami models take care of that for me. I used them to raise the scalloped embellishment. Surprisingly, I had a really difficult time exposing the adhesive. The little coverings just wouldn't come off! I was not pleased. However, I will give them another try some other time. Not going to give up on them yet.

Card Specs:
Scalloped embellishment and card base: Paper Magic
Foam adhesive: Making Memories

Song of the day: Don't have one for today. Too much chatting and eating to listen to any music in great length.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend and that your week starts off on a good note!

P.S. Thanks, Sharon for the mention in your blog post.

Hip Hip Hooray For Friday

Happy Friday, peeps! Did you make it through the first full week of 2010 alright? I did. Hey, guess what! It snowed last night! Mmm, yeah. Like 2 inches? It looked pretty whimpy compared to Snowpocalypse a few weeks ago. I took some snow pictures this afternoon after the work. Thankfully, it wasn't TOO dark. I captured this picture of one of the garden animals for today's Project 365 picture. The rabbit looks rather disapproving, but then again, I'd be grouchy too if I was stuck outside in this frigid weather!

For today's cards, I challenged myself to use up some of my scraps. You might notice that the base of this card looks very similar to the card I did for January 6. That's because I had cut the green scalloped edge piece a little too big the first time around, but instead of tossing it in the recycling bin, I decided to save it another time. I used some various punches to create the flower embellishment, and instead of using embroidery thread for the button, I used some pale pink ribbon. I thought that the bottom right corner was looking a little blank, so I went back to my scrap pile and cut a triangle out to balance things out. I hope you can see the swirls that I embossed in the black background.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Studio G (swirl), Inkadinkado (sentiment)
Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Punches: EK Success 2" scalloped circle, Marvy Uchida sun (?), Brenda Walton seal, Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

Song of the day: "Haven't Met You Yet"- Michael Bublé

Monday Monday

OMG, it was so difficult to wake up this morning! Yesterday's nap was longer than I intended, and it put a kink in my bedtime. My goal for the rest of the week is to go to bed at a reasonable hour...sometime before midnight.

I went to an hour long spin class tonight. The instructor kept suggesting putting 2-3 full turns on the bike knob. It was quite the workout! I did notice that there were a few more people in the class (and at the gym) tonight than normal, but I guess that's what happens at the beginning of the year. Cute gym front desk guy was there this evening. I really have to find out what his name is. It feels...I dunno, strange? awkward? to see him every week FOR MONTHS and just say "Hi" when I come in and "Have a good night" when I leave. Someone once told me that it's important to learn people's names and address individuals by their name. It makes things personal. You movie fans might remember this quote from "You've Got Mail." Great, great movie.

Joe Fox: It wasn't... personal.
Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's *personal* to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?
Joe Fox: Uh, nothing.
Kathleen Kelly: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

I didn't have time to make card tonight, so instead, I'll show you today's Project 365 photo. It's the pair of earrings that my buddy Meg gave me for Christmas. How did she know that I was looking for hoop earrings? I took them in my light box and did some Photoshop magic to adjust the lighting. Too bad I don't make/sell jewelry, I think I did a pretty good job for my first photo of jewelry. :) I'm thinking that many of my Project 365 photos coming up will have to be taken inside. It's too freaking cold to be walking around outside taking pictures.

Song of the day: "Give It Up to Me"- Shakira. Yep, still.