Sad, Rainy Day

Sad news: I came back from volunteering with my friend Robyn this morning to find out that my uncle's cat, Petty, passed away overnight. She's been sick for a while, so maybe this is for the best...to end her suffering and all that. My dad and another uncle (who's housesitting for my uncle aka Petty's dad) took her to the vet to be cremated. The sad news kinda coordinated with the gross rainy weather. :'( Rest easy, Petty. We'll miss ya.

TGIF!

I decided to put myself on lockdown today and work from home. This way I could really concentrate on coding some survey data without any distractions or temptations to be chatty. There's no one in the house today...only Ginger, who slept most of the time anyway. If/Then statements in Excel isn't something that I've done before, but after I got into my zone, it was fine. I would say that I'm about 70% done. Of course, the Survey Team will be met with a bunch of questions on Monday.

I'm hanging out with my friend Robyn tonight. We're doing a volunteer event together tomorrow morning and because the event's more in her neck of the woods, I thought it'd be smarter to carpool with her in the morning together. She has a pair of Bengal cats. They definitely aren't your average tabby. This should be interesting...hope your weekends start off on a good note! :)

Resist Embossing Technique, Part 2

Funny things that happened at the office today:

• I went to go visit my former officemate in the main building, and one of my co-workers walked by and asked her is she missed me. "No, because she's over here all the time." Ha ha. It's true. I was in the main building a total of 4 times today. There was leftover meeting food, so that was an extra incentive to go over and also visit.
• When a bunch of us were getting leftover lunch, one of the guys said that he was having a snack. I asked him if what he was getting was within his new dietary restrictions (he recently found out that he was diabetic). "Yes, Tina..." Then another person noted that my comment was very mommy-ish. Oops. I can't help it!
• My boss and I are going to be traveling together for work in May and renting a car. me- "Do you want me to bring my GPS?" Boss- "Um, sure, that'd be great. I use maps." Oh, gosh, is she talking about a fold out map? How old school.
  

I decided to try another emboss resist card with the same stamp I used on Monday. This time, I stamped the music score stamp first and then I used clear embossing powder to stamp the bird image on top. I was expecting the music score to stand out more, but you can't even see it through the clear embossed part of the card. Maybe I needed to zap the music score image with a heat gun before moving on. Oh well. I went over the card with some Distress Inks, expecting the colors to be more vibrant, but they are definitely more toned down. It's definitely not my style, but I think the teal, tan, and red kinda work together. Same stamp, totally different look.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China, Warm Honey, Barn Door, Antique Linen. Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Stack 7
Stamp: Hampton Art- Bird Collage, American Crafts- Rue, Stampendous (music score)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

One-Layer Wednesday #49

I was having a "I need chocolate" moment today so I caved in and ate the chocolate wand that my cousins got me from the Harry Potter amusement park. Word on the street is that a CVS is being built near my office. I will have to exercise restraint against the easy access chocolate.

Here's my take on this week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge (#49). The assignment is "Make a one-layer card with any stamp (or stamps) that have never seen ink and include the colours green and pink. You may use other colours in addition to the green and pink." I took this opportunity to use a new stamp set that I got last weekend. I think the butterfly image is so pretty with the intricate design. I used a circle die and some scratch paper to mask off the outside of the card, leaving a circle space for the images. I like how the music background helps define the circle, instead of me having the draw the circle.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Dark Peony, Yellow Ochre, Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen.
Stamps: K&Company- AB Lotus Floral Stamps (butterfly, leaves), K.I. Memories-Blooms (yellow flower), Stampendous (music score), Fiskars- Friendship Garden (heart), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Buttons: Bucket White, Bucket Red from Michaels. Favorite Findings in Pink.
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Tuesday Trigger: Porch Play

Today was Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's. Did you cash in? I certainly did! I went with two of my co-workers and we were lucky to not be in a long line. I'm not sure what was the reasoning behind the short line. Maybe it was the dreary weather. A little rain wasn't going to come between me and my ice cream though. I got "Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream", which is "vanilla ice cream with fudge covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl."

Here's my take on this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge: Porch Play. I wanted to incorporate the colors in the trigger photo as well as use some of my new crafty items. I don't really have any teal ink that matches the pillows, so I decided to use some teal paper that had some scallops in them which would match with the ruffles on the pillow. While the flowers in the photo are red, I had a yellow fabric flower on my desk that I had made for another project but ended up not using. It fit perfectly with this yellow, red, teal theme. I chose a cheerful celebrate sentiment because I'm sending this card to my friend Page. I got a text from her today saying that she has been admitted to pharmacy school. Hip hip hooray!Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Warm Honey. Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre.
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Paper: American Crafts- Abode
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Stamp: American Crafts- Boutonniere (flower), Fiskars- Sentiments (sentiment)
Brad: Recollections
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Resist Embossing Technique

I decided to go visit my cousin after spin class and I'm SO glad that I did because he had one cupcake left from Georgetown Cupcake!!! What perfect timing (or not so good timing, depending on how you want to look at the situation)! He must have subconsciously known that I was coming to visit. I think the one that I ate was the Cherry Blossom one...very seasonally appropriate.

I recently saw this blog post about Resist Embossing Technique, and I wanted to try it out with some of the items I purchase this past weekend: watercolor paper, 2 stamps, and patterned paper. I've also seen Jennifer McGuire do something like this too, but I couldn't find the specific YouTube video that she talks about this. I don't think there was any logic to the colors that I used or the placement, and while I'm a person that appreciates order, I kinda like how the colors are dispersed across the bird image.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint, Broken China, Tattered Rose, Warm Honey, Barn Door.
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Paper: American Crafts- Abode
Stickers: EK Success- Hearts
Stamp: Hampton Art- Bird Collage, Studio G (sentiment)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Song of the day: "If I Could Turn Back Time" - Cher.

Yeah.

No judging, mkay?

P.S. Tomorrow is Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's!

Two-A-Day

Since Mom's been away, Ginger the cat's been hanging out with me a lot lately. It's nice to feel wanted. I wonder how the dynamic will change once Mom gets back in a few weeks. I'll probably be demoted back to #2. She's been more touchy-feely too. She's been trying this new thing where if she REALLY wants my attention, she'll stand at the end of the bed and get up on her hind legs so she can reach to touch my back with her paw while I'm sitting at my computer. It's kinda cute, but creepy if I'm not expecting it.

I was so happy to be able to go to spin class this morning, since I missed out on TH and SAT classes. I even went for a 3.8 mile run this evening because "hair being a pain to wash is a poor excuse" to not go for a run, says my sister. It was nice to be finally outside instead of cooped up inside for the last 2.5 days. Two-a-day, woot!

I made some shepherd's pie this afternoon since ground beef and potatoes were on sale this week. Yum!