Weird Dreams and Safe Haven

Do you ever wake up from weird dreams wondering where they came from? A guy that I had a major crush on in high school was in my dream last night. High school was a while ago...what brought this on?! Maybe this was initiated by my reading a Nicholas Sparks book last night before bed, I dunno. BAH! Apparently, my subconscious has not moved on. Sheesh.

Oh, what Nicholas Sparks book am I reading? It's called Safe Haven. I started reading it earlier this summer, but I kinda forgot about it with all the house stuff and work travel going on and then I had to return it to the library. I checked it out again, and it's pretty good.

Office Card Order

I got an email from HR yesterday, asking if it'd be possible to order a set of 50 cards, a mix of anniversary and birthday cards to send to staff. Ah-ha! So maybe putting a box of free cards in the office kitchen from time to time is really paying off. I made 37 cards yesterday and today and I need to finish the rest tomorrow so that I can make my Monday morning deadline. My craft table is a mess...wanna see? This is the first Saturday in a while that I haven't gone to a yard sale. There's always tomorrow though. ;)

Fall-To Layout #152

This morning started out with an 8:00 AM dental appointment, and I am happy to report I have no cavities (despite all the candy I eat, but don't tell Dr. S that, mkay?).

I decided to take a "sick day" today to spend some time with my sister before she moves next week. We went all over the place: Bed Bath and Beyond, Michaels, AC Moore, Petsmart, Home Goods, the library, etc. I had some fun crafty things in my hand at all the craft store stops and at Home Goods, but I put them away at the last minute because I thought to myself: "Do I really need this right now? This money could go to your hypothetical kitty fund." I did score a baking pan at BB&B though. The kitties at Petsmart were freakin' adorable. One of these days...sigh...

The training workout today was a 1.5 mile warm up, 4 x 400 @ 2:10 per 400, and a 1 mile cool down. My sister was nice enough to do the track workout with me. We drove over to our former high school and we were not the only people working out on the track/field. The school recently put in a new artificial turf and track. It was very...bouncy, so it was very forgiving on my feet.

After the workout, we watched the movie that we got from the library: Easy A. Funny stuff. Recommended to rent, but not buy.

Here's the card for today, my take on this week's Fall-To Layout #152. I was happy to see that my bow-tying skills are still sharp.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy, American Crafts- City Park
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4, Carla Craft sakura punch, Marvy Uchida Jumbo Daisy
Other: Black American Crafts Stamp Marker

CARDS Magazine Challenge: Birthday Cards

At the office: I slipped out around lunchtime to go to the post office and then swing by the Pier 1. It's going out of business so everything was marked down. I was going there with the intention of finding some reed diffusers to make the new place smell nice. My boss gave me a vanilla scented one, and I put it in my bedroom. It makes me happy when I walk into my room and it smells nice. The scents that I chose were Island Orchard and Baked Apple and Dates. I really liked how there was a scratch-and-sniff sticker on the top so that you didn't have to open everything to see if you liked the scent. It reduces the chances of me dropping the whole thing at the store.

One of the directors is having a baby girl next month, so we, of course, celebrated with cake. I was THIS close to getting some frozen yogurt until I walked into the office next door to see if she wanted to come along. "Uhh, Tina, but we're having cake." Oh, yeah! Mmm, cake. I had a slice of the chocolate one with cherries.

Card: My ribbon flower card was featured in today's CARDS Magazine challenge blog post. :) The new challenge is to make a birthday card. I wanted to use some of the polymer clay flowers that I baked last night. I love being able to make my own embellishments!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Warm Green
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment), Hero Arts- Cling Dots, Fiskars- Friendship Garden, Fiskars- Friendly Flowers
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Clay: Premo Sculpey Clay in Pearl
Other: Black American Crafts Stamp Marker

Off to the dentist tomorrow for a regular check-up. Fun times.

Molds from MoldMuse

Today didn't really start off on the right foot. The left side of my neck was killing me, and I thought I could last all day at work, but I ended up going home around lunch time because the pain got so bad. I'm hoping that a full night's sleep and a Salonpas patch will do the trick.

The good thing about today was that my sister and cousin came over to hang out around dinner time. My cousin hadn't seen my new place yet, so I was happy to give him the tour. "Wow, it's so nice! It kinda feels like a hotel." Well, that's because I've only been here for a month. Maybe if you wait a little longer, it'll look more lived-in.

My molds from MoldMuse arrived today so I tested them out tonight with the polymer clay that I purchased at a yard sale last weekend. I picked out 3 types of flower molds - sakura, rose, and mum. The rose and mum are easy to use, but the sakura one is a little more tricky with all the detail. Here are some of the flowers that I baked tonight. I can't wait to get some gloss to put on them and attach earring posts to them for homemade jewelry.

Office Mooching

Hello, committee meeting season. How I've missed you and your leftover food!

The first one of the season is taking place this week and while it's not my committee meeting (mine's actually going to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in a few weeks), I can still enjoy the leftover food. My "second breakfast" was eggs, turkey sausage, potatoes and a yummy biscuit. I wasn't planning to get the biscuit, but I'm glad that I did because that was my favorite part of the meal. I stopped by to say hello to the receptionist. She looks at my open plate of food. "Are you taking that across the street?" (Um, yes. Uh oh. Am I in trouble? The email to all staff went out. It's up for grabs!) "Tina, it's going to be exposed to the elements outside. Get something to cover it before you go back to the other building." Oh, that's what she wanted to tell me. Ok, makes sense. Good thing people are looking out for me, even if it's little things like keeping my food safe.

I was on a conference call when the lunch leftovers email went out. There weren't a ton of leftovers in the kitchen since an hour had just gone by, but I did snag enough pasta with mushrooms to constitute a filling lunch.

The mooching continued when I went to my parents' house for dinner tonight. They couldn't possibly eat all that steak on their own, right? Even with my sister and cousin there too, they'd still need some help. Fortunately, I live very close by!

Is it still mooching if it's your family?

A Sisterly Card Assignment

Card: My sister requested a thank you card to send to her previous landlord. Fortunately she gave me some guidance of what she was looking for. She liked the thank you card that I created last week with the bird, but she didn't want the rectangular panel on the left and no flowers near the bird and since her landlord is a guy, some masculine paper, please. Here's the card that I came up with.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Olive Pastel
Stamps: Studio G (bird), Inkadinkado (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Metropolitan
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Other: Black American Crafts Stamp Marker

Weirdness: On my way home from spin class tonight, the radio weather report was talking about rain. I thought to myself, "That's crazy. There's nothing going on right now." And right as that thought finished, it started pouring. Super.

At the office: There's a committee meeting at the office tomorrow. Word on the street is that the lunch is coming from an Italian place. I'll have to be conveniently around when the email announcing leftovers goes out to all staff. Ha ha.

TV: Whoo hoo, JP got the final rose! He and Ashley look so happy together. I hope they live happily ever after :) While Ben didn't get the girl in the end, I thought he took the bad news as well as could be expected and left the show with dignity. That must have been crushing. Eek.