CPS #217

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

OH HAI, DOAN MIND ME. IM JUS KEEPIN UR PILLOW WARM.

Ummm, yes. I can see that. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

On the homehunting front, I followed some advice that the realtor gave me on Friday and drove around to scoped out some of the neighborhoods of places that I potentially wanted to check out further. I considered it my homework this weekend, and I was sorely disappointed. The areas didn't feel safe to me. It's back to the drawing board.

On a lighter note, here's my take on CPS #217. I used the DCWV paper again because I was in the mood for bright cheerful colors (more than usual, I guess). I also wanted to use the photo tag punch again and use them as lanterns hanging from the ceiling and creating a party scene.Card Specs:
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Warm Honey. Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre, Blackbird.
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Punch: Fiskars Square squeeze punch, EK Success Photo Tags Large
Stamp: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (flag, dress), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Time for some junk tv...later gators.

Yay, New Craftiness!

Overheard in the checkout line in Marshalls: "If you don't ask, the answer is always no." Yep, makes sense.

Most of the day was spent reading Mini Shopaholic. After a week of travel, it was nice to not have to be anywhere.

I went to The Cheesecake Factory to pick up some dessert for Mom as a pre-Mother's Day treat. I guess I could have gotten her some flowers, but she's got a whole garden of them and she's not a huge fan of cut flowers because they only last for a few days. And then with potted ones, there are already so many in the house. In the checkout line, I saw one of the spin instructors. I waved at her and we both laughed. She said to me "I'm going to get a salad" and then she winked at me. Hah, yeah right. Who knows? We might see each other at spin tomorrow morning. All in moderation right? :D

For today's card, I wanted to create a banner with a new punch that I bought tonight at TJMaxx. The punch is intended to be photo tags, but by punching a small hole in the tag, I created some flags. I also used some of the paper that I bought at Marshalls. I love that raspberry color against the cheerful yellow. I did a little damage control on one of the tags because some ink got on it right when I had assembled everything! I had to make it work as I wasn't about to make a whole new card. I created another flag and just pasted it over the messed up one. Pop quiz: can you tell which letter I messed up on? :)

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.
Stamps: American Crafts- Rue (alphabet)
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, EK Success Photo Tags Large
Stickers: American Crafts Fabric Thickers in Patchwork, Sandylion- Flower Power, Heart Flowers
Thread: DMC- Ecru
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Song of the day: "Move Your Body"- Beyoncé. Did you see the YouTube video of her surprising a bunch of kids dancing to the song? It's super cute. I think it's great that she's using her celebrity status to encourage children to be healthy.

Fall-To Layout #139

Woot, Friday! And a busy one...but it's all good. All the activity made the day go by faster. I met with the realtor again tonight to touch base and turn in paperwork. We've had to revamp our search parameters because when factoring in the condo fees during the initial search, the estimated monthly mortgage payments are more than I can afford. I guess it's better to have the reality check in the beginning of the process rather than fall in love with a place that's not in my price range.

I'm so excited to be able to make a card tonight! Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #139. I wanted to take the opportunity to use the new stamp set that I bought while I was in New Hampshire. I'm a fan of the "hello" stamp, and I can see myself using it frequently in the future. I also diverted from the sketch a little by adding the gems at the bottom, but I felt that it was necessary to balance the top and bottom of the card.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint.
Stamps: K&Company- AB Lotus Greeting Stamps (sentiment), K.I. Memories-Newsprint Lower (alphabet)
Paper: American Crafts- A La Carte (pink), Die Cuts with a View- Stack 7 (dark green), Die Cuts with a View- Sweet Stack
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)

New Hampshire, Day 2+3

The meeting yesterday went really smoothly, and I appreciated everyone's willingness to be active participants. All the hard work and preparation ahead of time paid off and I think the leadership was very pleased. Woot!

A group of us went out to dinner last night at the Barley House, and I asked the waitress for a drink that was "pink and fruity," but instead I got "pink and cotton candy-ish." Mmmyeah. The drink was called a French Kiss Martini, and it wasn't exactly what I had asked for, but I finished it anyway because I didn't want to be a pain and order something else since I didn't really give the waitress much to go on. Maybe she thought I meant "pink and pretty" because the drink WAS pretty. Next time, I'll stick with the Singapore Sling, which is what the bartender gave me the last time I asked for something "pink and fruity." For dinner, I asked for the chicken pot pie, which was excellent. And then for dessert, I really wanted the "giant chocolate cake," and oh yes, it was a giant slice. I'm glad that there were 7 other people to share it with me. It pays to be the youngest of the group (by like 20-40 years!) because everyone else wanted to stay away from the desserts towards the end of the meal, I cashed in big time. Nom nom nom.

My trip through security this morning was interesting. I was thinking I'd zip right through since the airport was small, but instead I got "Ma'am, I need to look through your bag." o_0 Huh? Oook, sure. The TSA lady went through my carry on and had to rescan my carry on and then look through it AGAIN. WTH? What's so interesting? It turned out that the suspicious item was the EK Success hole punch that I bought at Marshalls on Tuesday. ::eye roll:: Yes, yes, it's their job. All in the name of national security.

I took a picture of the Concord State House before I left for the airport. Last night, I was informed that "it is the oldest State House in the nation in which the legislature still occupies its original chambers." That's the fun fact for the day. Now to shut down my computer, get something to eat and wait to board the plane. Homeward bound :)

New Hampshire, Day 1

I got an early start to my morning today and was able to get to New Hampshire around lunchtime, rather than the usual before-dinner time. With a few hours to myself, I researched ahead of time what was in the area. (GASP) Good shopping! SUH-WEET! I checked into the hotel and walked around. At the end of my shopping trip, I came back with some crafty items (a stamp set that I had seen on YouTube scrapbooking haul videos, fabric, and a paper punch) and 2 pre-viewed DVDs (Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3). It's been a productive trip so far and I haven't even been to my meeting yet! I also wandered into a local scrapbooking store, but the selection was very limited and I ended up not buying anything from there.

I met up with my colleagues for dinner and we went to this fabulous seafood restaurant called Newick's Lobster House. Gee, I wonder what they serve there, ha ha. The selection of food was amazing. I wish I had more than one stomach so that I could eat everything! I ended up getting a green salad and something called a bay scallop pie, which was basically scallops with a cracker topping. Yum! I was very tempted to get the clam chowder, but I'm glad that I didn't because the small portion turned out to be larger than anyone else had anticipated.

Long day ahead, but I'm ready for it!

Following Through

Did anyone stay up last night to watch the news that bin Laden was killed? I wondered if that day would ever come. It brought me back to that day in college when I watched the 9-11 events unfold in my dorm room, and finally, almost 10 years later, a major milestone. ::sigh of relief:: Now what?

At the all staff meeting, I got the green light on both of my initiatives: the public speaking practice group (to give people a venue to practice their public speaking skills) and the non-senior staff meeting (to help bridge some gaps within the organization). Now it's time to actually get those meetings started.

I'm off to New Hampshire for work tomorrow. This is what I saw when I showered after going to spin class. "Dear Mommy. Please don't go. I enjoy sleeping on your empty luggage and leaving all my hair on it." Sigh.

Wee Memories Challenge #54

"Tina, we missed you on Tuesday," Janice the Tuesday night/Sunday morning spin class instructor says to me this morning as we're waiting for the early morning class to file out. Eek. I know, I know, I know, I'm sorrryyy! ::hangs head in shame:: The next time I feel like being a lazy, sleepy, food coma bum, I'll have to remember to force myself to go to spin to avoid this gnawing feeling of kinda letting Janice down...and more importantly, letting myself down for not taking better care of my body. I made a point to tell her that I wasn't going to be in Tuesday's class because of work travel, so that she didn't think I just lost interest in going to class. At the end of class, she asked if anyone wanted one more challenge today. I shook my head from the back of the room. I'm tired, sweaty, and probably stinky. Everyone else wanted one more song. "Tina, you can sit this one out if you want." Oh, heck, NO. I did NOT want to be the only one not lasting until the end. What's that saying? If you can't beat them, join them, so I did the last song with everyone else.

Here's my take on this week's Wee Memories Challenge (#54): paper piecing. I thought it'd be cool to use this cherry blossom background stamp that I hadn't used in a while and color in some of the flowers by paper piecing. I used black embossing powder and scraps of patterned paper to create the different colored blossoms. I used black embossing powder, instead of white or clear, to have them stand out a little more. Punched out butterflies with tiny gems completed the card. Lovely :) Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear, Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China.
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment), Fiskars- Asian Inspired (cherry blossoms)
Punch: Fiskars Square squeeze punch, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox (pink, yellow, blue), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb