CPS #224

I went to two yard sales today and came back with good stuff for very cheap prices. I was in search of durable storage solutions for my future craft space. I'm replacing anything cardboard/flimsy with plastic or glass containers. At the yard sale that I went to this morning before spin class, I found this set of 4 half pint preserving jars that I'm planning to put buttons/embellishments (pictured) for $1 total. After spin, I went to a yard sale, where I found 2 plastic containers (not pictured). They are already in the dishwasher for cleaning. I'm not sure what I'm going to put in them yet.
The instructor that teaches the second class on Saturdays is going to replace the instructor for Thursday nights. I'm excited about that because I like her more anyway.

It's been quite a foody Sunday. I am trying to gear up for the week ahead so that I'm not struggling to come up with ideas for lunch or dinner. I've tried all these recipes before because I like sticking to the winners. However, when I move to the new place in 2 weeks (!), I will try to branch out.

• Chocolate chip sour cream muffins for breakfast. I've made these muffins just a few days ago, but then my little cousin came by and I gave him 6 (half of the batch). Sharing is good.
  
• Tuna pasta salad (I added tomatoes)
• Creamy taco mac

Here's my take on CPS #224. I really wanted to use some g.c.d. Studios that I bought earlier this year. I planned to use some patterned paper on the top large panel and then have colored cardstock on the bottom. I thought that using the bright blue ribbon would be a good way to separate the two. For the stamps, fortunately, I had the right shades of blue and red for the flowers so that everything coordinated.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Lipstick Red, Blue Lagoon, Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China.
Paper: g.c.d. Studios- Chianti Collection
Stamps: Fiskars- Petals From Scratch (all)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Other: Black American Crafts Stamp Marker

Fall-To Layout #146

Kitty update: I think she's gotten over the trauma of going to the vet yesterday as evidenced by her appetite comeback and sleeping upstairs instead of a dark corner in the basement. Crisis averted.

I stopped by a few few yard sales in the area this morning on the way to spin class. I didn't find anything worth buying, so I ended up at the gym 30 minutes early. I saw one of my gym buddies who had a baby about 6 months ago. The baby was adorable (chubby chubby cheeks) and had grown so much since the last time I saw her. Awww.

The rest of my day was spent doing house stuff (scrubbing down the bathroom and doing laundry) and then making origami dress cards for my craft show inventory. Even though craft show season is months away, I don't want to be panicking and thinking that I don't have enough cards or enough variety to sell. I'm really liking the sentiment stamps that I bought last week. I like the look they give in comparison to just printing sentiments on cardstock using my printer. I also caught up on some Paperclipping Roundtable episodes while I was being crafty.

Confession: I totally annihilated the pint of ice cream I bought yesterday. Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. Please don't judge me. ::hangs head:: However, it was totally freakin' stickin' worth it.

Here's my take on this week's Fall-To Layout (#146). I started out with a kraft piece of cardstock that I already had laying around. Then I used a border paper punch on some strips of white cardstock that were leftover from this afternoon's card making session. I knew I wanted to using my new birthday stamp, and I thought it'd be nicely paired with some music notes...you know like the "happy birthday" song and all that jazz. Pearls were added on for an elegant finishing touch. Ta da! Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China.
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment), Stampendous (music score)
Paper: American Crafts- City Park, American Crafts- Dear Lizzy
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Carla Craft sakura punch
Flowers: Prima
Die: Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals, Cuttlebug- Flowers
Brad: Recollections- Pearl Brads
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Pearl
Other: Black American Crafts Stamp Marker

Staff Breakfast + New Etsy Purchase

I managed to get to the office around 7:45 AM today. This is a rare occurrence. I was able to shave off some time because a) I didn't have to eat breakfast because we were getting breakfast at work and b) I didn't care too much about my appearance because it's casual Friday. The normal early birds were like "Tina, you're here way too early." Yeah, but the earlier I get to the office, the sooner I can leave to start my weekend. There is a reason for the madness.

The staff breakfast that I helped organize was a success today, woot! The menu was French toast, eggs, turkey bacon, sausage, and regular bacon (lots o' meat!), 4 kinds of juice (I took home 2 cartons that were halfway full), grapes, and bananas. I think everyone found the meal filling...I even had some for lunch.

One of the IT guys brought his daughter to work. We were all laughing about how an 8-year-old girl has a cellphone. She insisted that she used it to call her sister, and yes, she knows how to text. My boss's boss welcomed everyone to the breakfast, and in the middle of it, the girl's cell phone text message indicator went off. And everyone laughed and laughed. I don't think it would have been as funny if it was an employee's phone.

There was definitely enough food for people to have breakfast for lunch. Bored? No, I'm not bored. While I was full after breakfast, after I checked survey data for 3 hours with the survey manager, I was feeling hungry again. My boss's boss walks by as I was going to the kitchen to throw away my paper plate, "Tina, I thought you were fulllll," imitating my comment earlier in the morning. "Ummm, I had to use a lot of brain power and energy." "Oh, I fully understand now. Thinking requires calorie consumption."

Being able to leave early allowed me to go grocery shopping and get that out of the way before the weekend started. Yay. Before I left, I went back to the main building to get the juice and I went to visit the admin assistant. He was sitting at his computer, eating some frozen yogurt from a place nearby that just opened. "WHAT ARE YOU EATING?!" He looked really guilty. "Oh, uh, I thought you went home. You were offline!" ::grumble:: Whatever. I ate too much today anyway.

When I got home, the two earring sets that I purchased off Etsy seller SoundsofSilver were waiting for me! One pair was a tiny silver studs and then other were silver studs with a slight dent (she called them pebbles). I am so appreciative of prompt sellers. The earrings arrived perfectly packaged and as described.

Ginger went to the vet today and got a clean bill of health. Except now she doesn't want to eat and is hiding downstairs. What gives?! Maybe she just had a tough day. I guess I'd be irked if I was hauled off to the doctor involuntarily.

Letterpress Technique with the Cuttlebug Machine

The monthly staff breakfast is tomorrow, and my department is one of the two that is hosting it. I went to the grocery store with one of my co-workers to pick up juice and fruit. We walked by some candy. I just couldn't help myself and exclaimed, "Ooo, candy!" My co-worker was walking behind me with the cart, "Let's move along now. Geeze, Tina. I'm like a parent, grocery shopping with a kid." Well, I paid for the groceries! Who's the grown-up now, eh?

For today's card, I wanted to try use my Cuttlebug machine as a letterpress. I inked up one side of the embossing folder and sandwiched my cardstock in between and ran it through the machine. It took a couple of tries to get it right. Even the white cardstock that I used wasn't perfect, but I thought the majority of the resulting image was good enough to use for this card. Uh, hello traffic light. Ha ha.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Brad: Recollections- Rhinestone Brads
Flowers: Prima
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Typo
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Victoria)
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore

One-Layer Wednesday #59

Good things that happened today:

• So you remember this new initiative that I wanted to get started at work? I sent out the meeting invitation this morning. The meeting's not happening for another month, but hopefully, with the advanced planning, people will keep their schedules open during that block of time.
• Through my realtor, I expressed interest in some of the furniture that's already at the townhome that I'm buying. I figured "you don't ask, you don't get." The worst she could say is no. She agreed to sell me a whole bunch of things. Who doesn't like a win-win situation? I get stuff that's already matching and she gets money to buy new furniture when she moves to her new place. I'm less than 3 weeks away from the closing date...so exciting!

I love the cheerful yellow flowers in this week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge (#59) inspiration. Of course, I had to try it out! I masked off the edges and stamped the flowers and leaves. When I took the masks off, I thought of just drawing the borders in with a black marker, but then I tried using a border stamp instead to define the image space.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Bisque, Yellow Citrus, Yellow Ochre, Olive Pastel, Ice Blue, Blackbird
Stamps: Fiskars- Border-A-Plenty, Fiskars- Petals From Scratch, K.I. Memories-Blooms, K.I. Memories- Logo Sushi, Inkadinkado- Round Frames (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Farewell Lunch

Today, my supervisor's supervisor and I took my teammate Morgan out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. His last day at the organization is coming up next week, and I'm going to be really sad to see him leave. He started throwing stuff out and organizing his workspace this morning. That made his departure seem more real even though I was aware of his end date months ago. It'll be weird to have an office to myself. I foresee myself going across the street to the main building to hang out with people.

For tonight's card, my goals were to emboss, use a stamp that I bought over the weekend at Michaels, use ribbon and use some Distress Inks. I started out with some kraft cardstock and stamped the background music score stamp. Unfortunately, I didn't center the stamp so I had to cut a little from the top. Next, I took out a scrap piece of watercolor paper and stamped and heat embossed the flower-like stamp. The reasoning behind my choice of Distress Ink was that I wanted some warm colors to contrast with the kraft cardstock, so I went with some red, pink and tan. I stamped the ink pads directly on my craft sheet and spritzed some water to dilute the ink, creating a watercolor. The colors blended very nicely on the watercolor paper. Butterflies and ribbon were added as a final dimensional touch. I left the card without a sentiment because a) I ran out of space and b) it's nice to have blank anytime cards on hand.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Barn Door, Tattered Rose, Weathered Wood, Antique Linen
Stamps: Studio G- Botanical Background, Stampendous (music score)
Paper: American Crafts- A La Carte
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore

Wee Memories Challenge #60

Links from the world wide web:

• My dad did a funny thing today. I got home from work to find this article about cards from The Wall Street Journal tacked up on the refrigerator. While I'm rooting for homemade cards, I think that receiving anything snail mailed and handwritten would brighten anyone's day.
  
• I wonder if this foody adventure in cheesecake would cause a stomachache.
• Like the game Angry Birds? Play it online...and don't let your boss know, mkay?

For today's card, I wanted to do this week's Wee Memories Challenge (#60) which focused on a party theme. This was a perfect time to use these balloon 3D stickers that I got from Meg for my birthday. I thought it'd be super cute to have an animal hold a balloon that had a sentiment on it, which which animal fold? Oh, I know, an elephant. He can hold the balloon string in his trunk, perfect! Once I chose which balloon I wanted to use in the set, I picked out papers that coordinated with the colors of the balloon.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Prussian Blue
Stamps: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (flag)
Paper: American Crafts- City Park, Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Sticker: Sandylion Essentials- Balloons
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

I spent some time tonight downloading and getting familiar with the latest version of OpenShot. I like the thought of embarking on an adventure in video editing and I hope to create more YouTube videos as the summer goes on.

Did anyone watch tonight's episode of The Bachelorette? **Spoiler alert! **




OMG, how can her radar be so off about that (explicative) Bentley?! I hope she gets a wake up call in next week's episode! On another note, whoo hoo...go JP!