Weekend Wrap Up

Movie: On Saturday, Julie (my sister) came over and we got Hawaiian pizza and got How to Train Your Dragon from Redbox. I wondered why Toothless the dragon looked very similar to Stitch (as in Lilo and Stitch) and it's because the director of this movie also directed Lilo and Stitch. I thought it was a very cute and heartwarming movie.

RJ: I washed my tablecloth because it had RJ's hair all over it. I put the freshly laundered tablecloth back on the dining room table last night. RJ took a flying leap onto the table and he and the tablecloth skidded right off, knocking over one of the chairs in the process, like something out of a sitcom.

Family/food: I went over to my parents' house for dinner tonight. Since Julie was home, she HAD to make her famous steaks, so we had quite a feast! I brought over the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that Julie made last night. There was no way I could have them at my house. They would have died a quick death.

Card: For today's card, the goal was to use a Sizzix/Tim Holtz die, washi tape, and a rub-on sentiment. I'm not sure all the colors go together, but at least it's a cheerful card!

I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off...yay for a long weekend!
Card Specs:
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Brad: Tapestry by C.R. Gibson- Ruby Lemonade
Rub-On: American Crafts- Sentiment Phrases
Washi tape: Container Store
Die: Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers

XOXO

At the office: I got another email from the journal that I submitted my manuscript to regarding my cover letter. I had to fix it an resubmit it. I did that this afternoon and then got a confirmation that my manuscript was officially turned in. Now the waiting game REALLY begins.

Card: This card was attempt #3 (eye roll). The first two tries were with using a copper pigment ink. It's been a while since I've used any pigment ink and I've forgotten how long it takes for it to dry. I switched to a yellow chalk ink so that I wouldn't have to wait at all. I tore a page out of an old copy of Wuthering Heights as a piece of patterned paper.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick.

Stamp: Ditto (background stamp)
Brad: Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Flowers: Recollections, Prima, Making Memories
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Typo
Other: Black Ultra Fine Point Sharpie

Floral Hi Card

Good news: I heard back from the journal that I submitted my article to. Bad news: they reminded me that I needed to get CDC clearance before I submitted it. Ummm, NO. We already talked about this. We're only going to get clearance if the article is accepted. Erghhhh. Hello, gimme a heart attack, won't you?

On a lighter note, I ran into the Policy Director in the hallway today. He mentioned that he received a thank you card from someone that he interviewed. A physical thank you card! I was impressed. He thought the card was really pretty, and he said that he thought, "Hmm, does she know Tina?" That was until he turned the card over and found out that the card was from Hallmark.

Here's the card that I made for today. I used this as an excuse to use my new border punch, a variety of pink brads, and some brown Thickers.

Card Specs:
Ink: Stampin' Up in Regal Rose
Paper: American Crafts- Botanique
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Fresh Vintage
Stickers: American Crafts Felt Thickers in Playroom
Punch: Martha Stewart Garden Gate border punch
Brads: American Crafts, K.I. Memories- Enchanting Epoxy Brads
Other: Liquid Pearl in Buttercup, Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Rosy Card

At the office/RJ: I got an email from a coworker that said that I should consider submitting some pictures of RJ for this contest: APHA's Get Ready Cat Preparedness Photo Contest. Bah ha. That would be totally funny if one of his pictures was selected. RJ is always looking for new fans. Anyway, the same friend sent an email out to a bunch of people (myself included) about how she was going to be placing an order soon with an online kitchen supply store and asked if anyone else wanted to be in on it to save on shipping. I love how I'm associated with cats and food.

Card: I bought this Studio G flower stamp on clearance on Saturday, so I decided to use it for tonight's card. I used some inks and my Aqua Painter to color the flowers and leaves in. My sentiment selection for this card was kinda limiting because I didn't have very much space on the right, but fortunately, I had this small hugs & kisses one. How cute!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal and Warm Green. Stampin' Up in Cherry Cobbler.
Stamps: Ditto (flowers), Fiskars- Romance (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Botanique

Fall-To Layout #206

Hooray for a 3-day weekend...not that I did anything special on my day off today. I went to Target (because I heard there was baker's twine in their $1 section) and New York and Company (because I had a coupon), but I came home with nothing. So this day ended up being a lazy day of NCIS reruns and catching up on my book and sleep. I guess it's back to the grind tomorrow.

Card: I wanted to break out some of my new Christmas stamp sets that I got from Marshalls a while back. I bought them when they were on clearance after the holiday season, so I didn't get to use them then, but I can now! I also used a new pack of snowmen embellishments that I got at a yard sale last week, as well as some metallic maroon cardstock that I got from Tuesday Morning yesterday. After I finished the card, I realized that the sentiment is kinda ironic considering the bundled up snowman in the snow, but he's cute! I also like how this card can be easily reproducible and the snowman can easily be switched up with an origami Santa or another type of embellishment. I used Fall-To Layout #206 for inspiration.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Holiday Expressions, Inkadinkado- Snowflakes
Embellishment: Jolee's Boutique- Snowmen
Other: Liquid Pearl in Platinum, Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

CPS #281

BBQ: I went to my co-worker/friend's house for a BBQ this afternoon. I have to say that I was a little overwhelmed by all the children. I was one of the few people there that was child-free, so seeing that many little ones isn't something that I'm used to. I actually made better friends with the family dog who insisted that I kick the deflated soccer ball so that she could fetch it. Funny moment: another coworker that attended introduced me to his boyfriend as "Oh, this is Tina. She's the one with the cute cat." RJ's clearly has some fans via Facebook. I'm also happy to report that I came home with an empty cookie container. I definitely had enough during quality control last night.

Card: Here's the card that I made this morning before I went grocery shopping. My friend from graduate school has a birthday coming up so I wanted to make sure that I got a card in the mail for her. I used CPS #281 as a guide.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. Stampin' Up in Regal Rose
Paper: American Crafts- Botanique

Stamp: Hero Arts- Envelope Pattern, Savvy Stamps (sentiment)
Punch: EK Success- Lattice Chain border punch
Rub-Ons: American Crafts Botanique

Paper Pieces: American Crafts Botanique Paper Pieces

Foody and Shopping-Filled Saturday

Food: I wanted to try a new crock pot recipe today (Recipe #12 of 2012)- chicken cacciatore. I used chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs, but I don't think that made a big difference. I sampled a chunk of chicken and some peppers, yum. I'm sure it'll taste even better over pasta or rice. I also made a batch of Rolo cookies for a barbeque that I am invited to tomorrow. My friend Beth came over to sample. I ate 3 cookies for quality assurance purposes. Heh. She made a comment of how I'd make a great housewife because I keep my place really tidy and I can cook.

Shopping: I really wanted to get out of the house, so of course, I went crafty shopping (3 Tuesday Mornings, 2 Michaels, 1 Marshalls, and 1 AC Moore). I came away with some good deals. Doing some YouTube haul video research ahead of time was helpful.

• Cardstock, 25 sheets of silver, brown, and metallic red. 1 pack of multicolored cardstock page with red, orange, yellow, and green paper
• 2 sets of Tim Holtz embossing folders (total 4 folders). 1 embossing folder from Embossing Essentials (only $2 because I had a 50% off coupon, score!)
• Several stamps
• 1 Martha Stewart Garden Gate border punch

One lady at Tuesday morning had a huge stack of stamps (probably 10-15 of them) and a Tim Holtz embossing folder set that I was looking for. I was lurking to see if she'd drop it and I could snatch it, but unfortunately, she kept her findings close to her.
Card Specs (left):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Pumpkin Spice. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Cupcakes (sentiment)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Fly a Kite
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Embossing Folder: Tim Holtz- Dot Matrix
Other: Do-Jiggies (yellow flowers)

Card Specs (right):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. Versamark chalk ink in Sea Breeze
Stamps: American Crafts- Herbs (feather), Studio G (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Brenda Walton (seal)
Die: QuicKutz- Birds
Other: Liquid Pearl in White Opal, Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker