Congrats Baby Card

I decided to take the day off from work today. The conference call that was going to be the only thing that I'd have to do was canceled. I considered today my deep breath before my upcoming work trip.

My cousin from Japan gave birth to a baby girl this past weekend, and my mom asked me to make a card to send to them overseas to say congratulations. I wasn't really feeling inspired to create a card on my own, so I referred to a sketch that I used earlier this week.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Warm Green
Stamps: Studio G, Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern
Paper: American Crafts- City Park, Chatterbox
Punches: EK Success (rubber ducky), EK Success Circle punch (1 3/8 inch), EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch)
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Liquid Pearl in White Opal

Hello, Ginger

I found this picture of Ginger that I took over the weekend with my phone. She was napping upstairs and when I said hello on the other side of the railing, she decided to return the favor. And then go back to sleep.

The other picture is a card that I made tonight. I thought the Rich Razzleberry color was a good contrast to the light green found in City Park collection. When I finished the card, I had to laugh to myself because I was having trouble thinking of what I'd use this card for. Duh, shouldn't I have thought of that before I made it? I guess I could use it as a thank you card, right?
Card Specs:
Ink: Stampin' Up in Rich Razzleberry
Stamps: Stampin' Up- So Many Scallops, Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Die: Sizzix- Squares, Scalloped #2
Paper: American Crafts- City Park
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

CPS #265

Interview time: No, no. I wasn't the person interviewing for the job. I was one of the people that sat on the 5-person interview panel for one of the open positions at work. Whew, I'm so glad that I wasn't in the hot seat. This individual was a strong candidate, and HR will be making her an offer. Hooray for her. :)

TV: The NCIS season finale....ahhhh! When they said that the last two minutes were going to be important, they were not kidding! I can't believe I have to wait until fall for the new season to start. Thank goodness for rerun marathons on USA.

Card: Here's my take on CPS #265. I wanted to continue using some new items. Today, it was the Pumpkin Spice chalk ink.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Pumpkin Spice
Stamps: Hero Arts- Sending Smiles Messages, Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern
Paper: American Crafts- Abode, Chatterbox
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Clay: Sculpy Clay in Just Orange and Blue Pearl
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Fall-To Layout #190

Confession: I had frozen yogurt for lunch today. Don't tell my mom.

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #190. I took this opportunity to use some of the new crafty goodies that I got from Scrapbooking-Warehouse.com last week. Let me count the ways. For this card, I used my Chestnut Roan ink pad (while it's not a new ink pad, the reinker that I used on it was new), 2 new Hero Arts wood block stamps, and 1 new Hero Arts clear stamp. The envelope pattern was used on the yellow piece for a tone-on-tone effect, but you can't really see it too well in the picture.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan. Stampin' Up in So Saffron.
Stamps: Hero Arts- Designer Wood Grain, Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern, Hero Arts- Thank You For Being My Friend
Paper: American Crafts- Abode
Punch: EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch)
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker, American Crafts Delights (Party Favor), Liquid Pearl in Rouge

Happy Mother's Day

Hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day!

Our family celebrated by me going to Crisp and Juicy to get some Peruvian chicken and having my aunt and uncle come to my parents' house to eat lunch together. Julie surprised everyone by coming home for the day (I knew on Friday that she'd be doing that, so it was funny to be inside on the joke). There was some debate on where to get dessert, but she ended up making a German chocolate cake and it was so good!

I also took some pictures of the flowers in Mom's garden.

Busy Bee Saturday

March of Dimes walk: To support one of my co-workers and her family, a group of us at work decided to fundraise for the March of Dimes and do the 3-mile walk today at Nationals Park/ Navy Yard. I had never been there before (I'm not a baseball person), so this was a good experience to share with my co-workers. The weather was super nice for walking. It started out a little cool, but then got warmer just in time for us to finish the walk. Some of my co-workers brought their babies and of course, they were super cute. This is us towards the end of the walk where we can pass home plate and see ourselves on the jumbotron.

Housewarming party: I did some errands after the walk and then came home to take a nap. After my 2 hour nap, I was off to my next event which was another co-worker's housewarming party. We bought our places last year around the same time, but while my place was in move-in condition and I didn't want to change anything, he spent the past year renovating things around the house with his girlfriend. I could only stay for a little bit because Meg and Robyn were coming over.

The Avengers with Meg and Robyn: OMG. I've seen many superhero movies, and this one was by far my FAVORITE! I had seen the movies with the individual heroes (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America...), and it was cool to see how they worked together as a team (or didn't). The special effects were already awesome in the 2D version. I can't imagine watching it in IMAX with all the flying that happens. With the Batman and Spider-Man movies coming up in July, this will be a superhero-filled summer. After the movie, we went to the nearby Mexican place, Meg got FrozenYo for dessert and we went all went back to my place to hang out. We ended up chatting and watching The Notebook which was playing on TV.

Hi, Bye, Denver

I've been in Denver the last couple of days to staff a workshop, but flew back home today. Unlike my previous trip to Denver, I didn't really do any fun things this time. Notable events:

• The guy sitting in front of me on the plane ride there put his seat WAY back. Dude, not cool. However, I will pick my battles and try my best to ignore you by sleeping the whole way.
• Some of the workshop materials were not in the box that was mailed to the hotel. Ok, do not panic. Well, no. Set aside 10 minutes in the beginning for panicking and then figure out a way to make this work. Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with that on my own. Another coworker and I figured it out.
• After the participants left the workshop, the staff sat down in the hotel bar to get some drinks. The waitress comes by with our drinks. I took a sip of my margarita, and then I hear "Can I see your ID?" Of course, everyone laughs. Um, sure, but aren't you kinda late? I already took a sip of it.
  
• I saw prairie dogs out in the wild. Like not in a zoo.
• Have you been to a Bass Pro Shop before? I hadn't until last night. There really isn't a need for that kind of stuff in the Maryland suburbs. Anyway, they had some cool stuff there. My favorite was the waterfall and the fish tank.
  
• I went to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill last night with a friend that was in the workshop (she was staying an extra night because we couldn't find flights out that same day). The food wasn't that impressive and the lighting was really dark. My friend tried their fried Twinkies. I passed on those.
  

My orchid is doing really well. Mom's really jealous because hers aren't, and she's got the family green thumb.

I had a crafty order from Scrapbook-Warehouse.com waiting for me when I got home. I got some Colorbox chalk ink reinkers (Blackbird, Chestnut Roan), chalk ink pads (Pumpkin Spice, Dark Peony, Yellow Citrus), Some October Afternoon letter stickers, and some Hero Arts clear sentiment stamps and word block stamps.