Polar Bears or Dogs?

Do you hear that faint whining sound? Yep, that's the sound of my thighs crying from the soreness resulting from tonight's spin class. That's what happens when the instructor suggests several times over the course of 45 minutes to turn the bike knob to the highest resistance ever and then go fast. Mmmkay. It's not too bad when you've got the momentum going, but the second you stop, the pedals feel like cement. How do I know? Because I stalled out 2 or 3 times. I'm still glad I went. Taking a break tomorrow, whew!

Here's today's card...yep, another Valentine's Day one. I decided to use the 2 polar bear origami model as the focus of the card. I've been told that they look like 2 dogs. Which one do you think it is? Either way, it's cute. I've used this model for anniversary cards, which were popular at the craft shows that I did last year. The pink background looked a little empty, but I didn't want to put patterned paper down in case it clashed with the brown origami paper. I settled with heat embossing clear hearts to give a little texture. You like?

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Studio G

Song of the day: "Defying Gravity" from the Wicked Soundtrack. Oh, random, I heard MMMBop while listening to internet radio today at work. Talk about an oldie (but not a goodie)!

Two Card Hump Day

Greetings, folks! There was no spin class tonight, so I made the best use of my time by making a Valentine's Day card and a birthday card for my cousin AND finishing a book (more on that later in the post).

I went with a "love grows" theme with this Valentine's Day card, using the paper punched hearts as flowers and layering them. I was going to go with scalloped circles for flowers, but realized that my 2 inch punch was too big for what I needed. Anyway, the hearts looked like they needed a little something, so I added buttons to the center of two hearts.

Card Specs:
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Bloom & Grow
Ink: VersaMark
Stamp: Studio G
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

I realized that my cousin's birthday is coming up later month, so I figured I'd get on the ball and make a card for him. I find masculine cards rather difficult to do because I gravitate majorly towards rhinestones, glitter, and all things girly. There used to be ribbon with a knot where the striped paper used to be, but then my sister "helpfully" informed me that that would not be appropriate for a guy's card. Oook. Plan B. The ends of the ribbon were fraying anyway.

Card Specs:
Paper: Recollections
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamp: Inkadinkado
Punch: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

I finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein this evening, yay! I am so thankful for those people who recommended the book to me. I liked how the book was written from the dog's perspective. Who knew a dog could be so insightful and philosophical? Warning to those who plan to read it- I was definitely teary-eyed at the end. Even though the book centers around a dog, I think anyone who's ever had a pet will appreciate this book.

Song of the day: "Bye Bye Bye" - 'N SYNC. No laughing, ok? It's an oldie, but a goodie.

First Sale of 2010

Yeah, trying to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night? Fail. Time flies when you're reading blogs.

Onto more joyful news...::happy dance!:: I got my first sale of 2010 today, after weeks (WEEKS!) of not selling anything. The buyer purchased one of my trademark items- the origami dress embellishment (a set of 12). This situation was a good reminder that even though it's been a while since my last sale, I must continue to push forward. An inactive shop is not an excuse to be inactive myself.

I went to spin class tonight, even though I was feeling less than enthusiastic to go. Who really wants to go outside when I have a perfectly warm home? Anyway, the instructor tonight played my Black Eyed Peas, so it was worth it. There was a new spinner that had the bike next to me. I thought she mentioned that it was her first spin class ever at the gym, so I was impressed that she kept up with the class and didn't appear to slow down one bit. Kudos.

I used Caardvark's sketch from January 1, 2010 as inspiration for today's Valentine's Day card. I also used this opportunity to break out an Inkadinkado stamp set that I bought myself for Christmas, specifically the Spring Blossom clear stamp set. 130 pieces for $7.50, what a deal!

Card Specs:
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Bloom & Grow
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black and Blazing Red
Stamp: Inkadinkado (flower vine), Studio G (sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

Song of the day: "Cry For You"- September. I usually hear this song during my Monday night spin classes, but it came up when I was listening to Last.fm at work today.

Now off to package up the order for the post office tomorrow. byE for now!

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.

Blown Away

Well, okay, not really. But, I mean, I could have been! The wind was sure whooshing around today. I felt like I might have needed to carry an anchor around with me during my trip to the craft stores so that I didn't get blown away! Speaking of the trip to the craft stores (A.C. Moore and Michael's), it was rather anti-climatic. I was hoping that they'd have their Valentine stamps out, but it was a no-go. Michael's hasn't set up all their V-Day stuff and yet they found the time to put up a little section of St. Patrick's Day stuff up. Um, what? o_0 One holiday at a time, please? I ended up coming back home with cardstock, a whopping $2.42 load of it.

Here's today's card. I didn't really have a plan when I was making it, which is unusual because I'm a person that likes plans and templates. It was a great way to use some scraps. I'm especially proud of my ribbon tying skills. It doesn't come naturally, but watching many ribbon tying tutorials on YouTube helped a lot. Mini glue dots were used to secure the ribbon to the card so that it didn't flop around.

Card Specs:
Paper: KI Memories holiday fun paper pad
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Ink: VersaMark
Stamp: Studio G

Side note: My origami dresses were featured over at Connie's blog today.

Song of the day: "Give It Up to Me"- Shakira. I heard this song when I was driving around today.

Decisions, Decisions

This morning started out with an internal debate- whether or not to go to spin class. I decided to go (fourth class of this week, go me) because I knew that there was going to be a family dinner tonight and I needed to burn off a few of Meg's fantastic peanut butter cookies that I ate while watching Iron Man last night (Yep, that was my second time watching that movie this week. It's that good.). I'm so glad that I went because it was a great workout. My thighs are still feeling it. It's all about decisions, right?

I made a Valentine's Day card that included a romantic red rose and some paper punched white cherry blossoms.

Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Blazing Red
Stamp: Studio G
Punch: Carl- Small and Medium Cherry Blossom

Song of the day: "Sweet Caroline (Remix)"- Angelo Venuto. I heard this at spin class this morning. I didn't like it at first, but then when I listened to it a few more times at home, I'm finding it catchy.

Hello, 2010

1/1/10. Yes! You are finally here! ::happy dance::

I spent the latter half of NYE at my friend Meg's place, eating pizza, "helping" her bake cookies, watching "Night at the Museum" on TV, and eventually watching the Time Square ball drop in NYC. "Helping" really means unwrapping chocolate kisses in preparation of putting them on the snickerdoodles, reminding her to set the oven timer, and eating some of the cookies. It was a wonderful low key evening with good company and good food.

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? Here's my list. We'll see how well I keep up with them throughout the year. ::fingers crossed::

• Keep up with my blog and Etsy shop every day through promotion, posting, or listing.
  
• Take a picture every day (Project 365).
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle (physically and emotionally) by continuing to attend spin class, not giving into my sweet tooth as much, and not taking b.s. from anyone.
  
• Partake in more random acts of kindness.
• Learn a new craft. (Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards scrapbooking or crocheting.)
• Track my financial spending better by keeping receipts and entering data into MS Excel.
• Take a chill pill more often (a sister-submitted suggestion ::eye roll::).
  

I cranked through 100+ pages of "The Art of Racing in the Rain" this afternoon (mostly on the Metro ride to and from Meg's place) and before the afternoon nap with the cat. Ginger's a fantastic napping buddy because she usually stays in one place and doesn't mind that I use her as a foot warmer.

Here's today's card. The finished size of the card is a 5 inch square. I folded the origami shirt with white paper and attached a necktie made from My Mind's Eye scrapbook paper. I stamped the hearts with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder on black cardstock and used the Fiskars punch to round the corners. The scalloped edge on the red cardstock was created by using a Fiskars border punch. I used Card Positioning System's Sketch #102 as inspiration.

Card Specs:
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Bloom & Grow
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Studio G
Punch: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

Song of the day: "Meet Me Halfway"- Black Eyed Peas

Here's to a fabulous 2010! Happy New Year!