Chevron CARDS Magazine Challenge

I posted my calendar cards on my personal Facebook and actually got a request for the Hedwig January card from a girl that I went to middle and high school with. Woot.

Janice the spin instructor gave out some very smart advice on Halloween candy.
a. If you've already bought Halloween candy, keep the bags sealed. Do not open them.
b. Buy candy you hate.

Too bad I already failed at both of the above...major FAIL. I bought a bag of Twix, Milky Way, and Snickers, and the only one that's still sealed is the Snickers bag. Not because I don't like Snickers, but just because I'm trying to pretend that I have some self control.

Oh, but did you notice that I did go to spin class? Heh. See? I do have balance in my life. I also skipped out on coworker goodbye cake because the party was happening during a conference call. I dunno if I would have eaten much of it anyway because it wasn't chocolate cake, but some vanilla strawberry cake. Meh, not as exciting.

The CARDS Magazine challenge this week was to incorporate a chevron pattern into the card. Uh oh. After looking through several paper packs that I had, I couldn't find a single piece of paper that had this pattern on it. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I figured I could make my own chevron pattern by cutting up pieces of paper and adhering them together to create the pattern. Then I had a major debate on which color of Thickers I should use. I started out with brown and then I went to green and then I went back to brown and stuck with it. Tough decisions...
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Hero Arts- Cling Dots (background)
Paper: American Crafts- Metropolitan
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Recollections mini heart punch
Stickers: American Crafts Felt Thickers in Playroom
Button: From Tuesday Morning
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Co-worker Request: Calendar Cards

I finished the set of calendar cards this morning before work so that I could give them to my co-worker. Yep, I'm THAT dedicated. I tried to do a video tonight with a picture slideshow and voiceover, but that was just taking too much time so I'm giving up for now. Sleep is too important. Fortunately, I found this nifty tool on Picasa where you can create collages, so I figured that'd do the trick. You'll have to click on the image below to see the detail.While I was trying to figure out the video situation, I had a potato soup going on in the crock pot and nothing says comfort food like the smell of bacon and onions in the air.

Song of the day: "Without You"- David Guetta ft. Usher. Heard it at spin class tonight.

Dumpling Party

All the walking that we did on FRI and SAT tuckered us out, so there was not much walking today. Actually there was definitely more sitting and chatting. Mom was nice enough to buy some dumpling supplies so we could make and eat some. I did a similar thing for my birthday when I was in grade school, but my skillzzz have definitely improved since then. Mom was also impressed with the dumplings that Robyn and Suzie made. The best part of the event was obviously eating them, as evidenced by the huge smiles in the picture on the right. There were definitely leftovers for everyone to take home, so in true Tina's Family Fashion, you don't leave my parents' house without something to eat. (Meg had a bunch of things to do, so she couldn't make it to the party.)

After we were filled with dumplings, the 3 of us went to A.C. Moore...Robyn to get some yarn for her catnip mice and me to get some star rhinestones for my Christmas tree cards. We are planning to do a craft show together in November so it's time to get ready! I was so excited to see My Mind's Eye 6x6 pads there, but I resisted and ran away before I could buy all of them. Behold my self control. Suzie came along for the ride. After the craft store we went back to my parents' house to hang out until Suzie had to catch her train.

I went to my uncle's house for dinner tonight...of course, more eating. At least I did all the walking these past few days to balance everything out!

I'll have to do some investigating on how I can do a slideshow with pictures so that I can share the set of calendar cards I made for my co-worker. I have one more to finish up tomorrow and then I'll have a complete set. Too bad I didn't have more time to film a video, but at least I took pictures! Stay tuned.

Zoo Visit and Light the Night

Today, we did a lot of walking. Yesterday, I did a lot of walking. Do you see a theme?

Well, let me back up.

My friend Suzie is here visiting from New York. Suzie came here last year around the same time. The two of us met up with Meg and Robyn downtown yesterday and walked around the American Indian Museum, sat at Potbelly for a while catching up and then walked around the Botanical Gardens.

Today, Suzie and I started out at a block-wide yard sale event called Attic in the Street. Suzie found a sweater for a friend's kid ($1) and a unique plate ($1). I found a set of measuring cups ($0.50) and a piece of artwork to hang in my place ($2). As much fun as the event was, the parking situation was atrocious. There were cars parked on both sides of the street and then there were cars trying to go in both directions. This was very challenging given the crowd and made even more complicated when a huge delivery truck was in the way. Suzie and I sat there for a while and people were getting really frustrated. Hey, I have places to go too! You think I'm sitting here because I love traffic and not moving. Sheesh. Oh well. The goodies we got were worth the trouble!

Next we met up with Robyn and headed to the National Zoo, where we walked around for 4 HOURS. I thought this was amusing considering I was concerned last night that we wouldn't have things to do between the Zoo and dinner time. We were fortunate that many animals were out and about (panda, lions, bears, elephants, etc.).

After the Zoo, we met up with Meg and had dinner at Red Hot and Blue, a barbecue place. Yum! This was the same place that catered the office summer picnic so I knew the food was going to be awesome. Then the 4 of us went down to the National Mall to meet up with Robyn's friend Maria for Light the Night. It was amazing to see all the people holding lit balloons against the monuments and night sky. After the 2.5 mile walk, we went to a restaurant for drinks and dessert (apple pie, peach cobbler, and vanilla pound cake).

Yep, it's been a good day. :)

One-Layer Wednesday #68

Here's my take on this week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge: "Use one or more triangles on your card. These can be definite triangle shapes or implied in the design by arrangement or the shape of the card." I immediately associated triangle with a Christmas tree, so I decided to take out a Christmas stamp set for this card. I started out with stamping the sentiment at the bottom and then masking off the left and right sides of the tree and stamped the ferns with green ink. I added on the star at the top and drew in the tree stump with a marker as a finishing touch. Quickest card ever!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Yellow Ochre, Warm Red
Stamps: SEI- Winter Song (ferns), The Paper Company Studio- Christmas Expressions (sentiment), Martha Stewart- Toy Transportation (star)
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Tuesday Trigger: Finesse the Dress

Funny RJ story: I was in the process of emptying my dishwasher last night. I opened a cabinet to put away my cutting boards and left it open. I turned around to put some other dishes away and then turned back to the first cabinet to close it. I finished putting away the other dishes and then thought "Hmm, I wonder where RJ is. He was just here. That's weird." I went into the living and dining room area. Not there. That's so weird. Then I hear a faint thump thump noise. Ah ha. I opened the cabinet where I put the cutting boards, and RJ walked out. Oops. This has shades of the time that I closed my closet with my cat in it back in high school. He started making a commotion in there that my mom, on the other side of the wall, wondered why I was making so much noise. Then later in the day, she wondered where Oliver was. She found him in the closet sleeping. He probably wore himself out from all the banging around.

At the office: I got my flu shot today. The office was offering them for free. While filling out my paperwork, I automatically started writing my parents' address. Sigh, old habits. I also got many compliments on the dress that I bought at Target yesterday. I wanted to blurt out that I got it on clearance for $13. ::evil laugh:: Style doesn't have to be expensive, right?

Card: Here's my take on this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge: Finesse the Dress. I wanted to incorporate the teal and grey colors into the card. For the background grey piece, I used the faux letterpress technique that I saw on the Hero Arts blog a few days ago. I love how that piece added some texture to the card, both with the raised dots and also the splotchy ink (since I used the a Distress Ink pad). Then I wanted to address the swirly design on the dress by heat embossing a swirly floral image with gold embossing powder. The sentiment, butterfly, and gems were added as a finishing touch.Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Detail Gold
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Weathered Wood.
Stamps: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (sentiment), Inkadinkado- Floral
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Paper: American Crafts- Merrymint
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly

Song of the day: "I Wanna Be Rich"- Calloway. Heard it at spin class tonight.

Tuesday Trigger: Treat Yourself!

Card: Here's my take on this week's Tuesday Trigger: Treat Yourself! I was inspired by the layers and the different shades of brown. I dug out several different sheets of brown/tan patterned paper and cardstock and used 3 different border punches to create the strips. I was going to do a die cut label and put it in the center of the card, but then I realized that that would take away from the layered strip effect. Then I realized that I had some space up at the top for the sentiment. It looked a little lost up there, so I added a pop of color to draw the eye back up to the sentiment.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Stamps: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Botanique, Recollections, My Mind's Eye- Stella and Rose
Punch: Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Recollections mini heart punch

Song of the day: "Happy"- Leona Lewis.